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THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

• 



JilacmiUan'0 pocket American mti lEnQlisi) ([Dlassicg 



A Senes of English Texts, edited for use in Elementary 
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OTHERS TO FOLLOW. 




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THE SONCx OF HIAWATHA 

OF 
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 



EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BIOGRAPHICAL 
AND EXPLANATORY NOTES, AND A PRONOUNC- 
ING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES 

BY - 

ELIZABETH J. ELEMTNG 

DIRECTOR OF PRACTICE IN THE TEACHERS' TRAINING 
SCHOOL, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 



"Listen to this Indian legend, 
To this Song of Hiawatha." 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 

1905 

All rights reserved 



tJBRARYof CONGRESS 
Two Copies rtecwveu 

JUN 28 iyU5 

^ 'Joyyiitfiti tnirv 
( /OUASS c»_^ AAc. Nw 
COPY 6. 

II .■(■■■i. I.. iiin 1> 



Copyright, 1905, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1905. 



PREFACE 

In this edition of The Song of Hiaivatha an endeavor 
has been made to answer questions and explain diffi- 
culties which the writer has encountered in teaching 
the poem, and also to suggest such references as may 
be useful to those who wish to make a further study 
of Indian history and mythology. 

Indebtedness is acknowledged to the editions of 
Hkauatha already published by Houghton, Mifflin & 
Co., Maynard, Merrill & Co., and the Educational 
Publishing Co. ; but the writer has made no note 
which has not been personally verified, and many 
additional have been made. 

Books of reference : — 

Parkman: The Jesuits in ISTorth America — Intro- 
duction. 

Horatio Hale : A Lawgiver of the Stone Age. 



VI PREFACE 

J. y. H. Clark : History of Onondago. 
Brinton : Myths of the New World. 
B. B. Thatcher : Indian Traits. 
Catlin : Life among the Indians. 
Schoolcraft : — 

Notes on the Iroquois. 

The Indian in his Wigwam. 

The Hiawatha Legends. 
Jeremiah Curtin: Creation Myths of Primitive 
America. 

The New International Encyclopaedia. 

ELIZABETH J. FLEMING. 



CONTENTS 



Preface . . . . . • J • 

Biographical Notes .... 

Introduction ...... 

Educational Value of the Poem 

The Song of Hiawatha : 

Introduction 

I. The Peace-Pipe . 
The Four Winds , 
Hiawatha's Cliildhood . 
Hiawatha and Mudjekeewis . 
Hiawatha's Fasting- 
Hiawatha's Friends 
Hiawatha's Sailing 
Hiawatha's Fishing 
Hiawatha and the Pearl-Feather 
Hiawatha's Wooing 
Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast . 
The Son of the Evening Star 
vii 



II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 



Xlll 

xxi 



13 

25 
35 
47 
59 
66 
72 
82 
94 
106 
116 



CONTENTS 







PAGE 


XIII. 


Blessing the Cornfields 


. 131 


XIV. 


Picture- Writing .... 


. 141 


XV. 


Hiawatha's Lamentation 


. 149 


XVI. 


Pau-Puk-Keewis .... 


. 158 


XVII. 


The Hunting of Pau-Puk-Keewis . 


. 169 


XVIII. 


The Death of Kwasind 


. 184 


XIX. 


The Ghosts 


: 189 


XX. 


The Famine 


. 198 


XXI. 


The White Man's Foot 


. 206 


XXII. 


Hiawatha's Departure . 


. 216 


Notes 




. 227 


Pronouncing Vocabulary of Proper Names 


. 243 


Index to Notes .,,.,. 


. 251 



BIOGEAPHICAL NOTES 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, tlie most widely 
read of American poets, was born in Portland, Maine, 
February 27, 1807. He was the son of Stephen Long- 
fellow, a lawyer in easy circumstances, and of Zilpah 
Wadsworth. Through his mother's family he was 
descended from John Alden and Priscilla Mullens, 
famous in his narrative poem, The Courtship of Miles 
Standish. 

His love of literature was manifested early, and 
at the age of fourteen he had verses published in a 
home paper. He graduated from Bowdoin College, 
Brunswick, Maine, in 1825, in the same class with 
Hawthorne. Made professor of modern languages at 
Bowdoin the same year, he went to Europe for three 
years more of study in order to fit himself for the 
position. The time from 1826 to 1829 was spent in 
Paris, Italy, and Spain in hard study. Returning to 
his work, he was married in 1831 to Miss Mary 
Storer Potter, who died in 1835. In the same year. 



X BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

1835, he resigned his professorship at Bowdoin and 
returned to Europe for further study, this time in 
preparation for the Smith professorship of modern 
languages at Harvard. Upon assuming his duties at 
Harvard, he went to Cambridge to reside, occupying 
and afterwards owning "Mistress Craigie's house," 
now known to all admirers of the poet. Craigie 
House was Washington's headquarters during the 
operations about Boston in the Revolutionary War. 
In 1842 he went to England. In 1843 he married 
Miss Frances Appleton, the heroine of Hyperion. His 
second Avife died in 1861. In 1854 he resigned his 
professorship at Harvard. He died March 24, 1882, 
in Cambridge. 

" He is dead, the sweet musician ! 
He the sweetest of all singers ! 
He has gone from us forever, 
He has moved a little nearer 
To the Master of all music, 
To the Master of all singing ! " 

In appearance he was of medium stature, with 
rather heavy, pronounced features. He was benign 
and kindly, and always easy of approach. In his 
later years, with his rather long gray hair and clear 
complexion, Mr. Ho wells speaks of him as " the white 
Mr. Longfellow." Among his friends and associates 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES XI 

are numbered Holmes, AYMttier, Bryant, Lowell, 
Emerson, Hawthorne, Agassiz, Field, an inspiring list 
to think upon. 

Longfellow is the people's poet, a popularizer of 
the healthy sentiments and emotions of life. He was 
neither subtle, stately, nor profound, but he sincerely 
loved beauty, and was able to present it in a way that 
opened the eyes of his readers to behold it in common 
things and homely themes. He did more than any 
other poet to interest Americans in American life. 
His half-historical poems, such as 31iles Standish, 
Evangeline, and Hiaivatha, his Building the Ship and 
Hanging of the Crane, are examples of his splendid work 
in this direction. Moreover, he was one of the first 
to interest his own people in European life and scen- 
ery ; and he did much to spread the culture of modern 
languages in this country. While we admire and ap- 
preciate Lowell, Emerson, Whittier, and Bryant, we 
love and appreciate Longfellow. In making literary 
pilgrimages to Cambridge, Longfellow's name is usu- 
ally first in the 'pilgrim's thought and first on his lips. 

Literary works : — 

Coplas de Manrique, 1835. 
Outre-Mer, 1833-1835. 
Voices of the Night, 1839. 
Wreck of the Hesperus, 1841. 



Xll BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

• 

Village Blacksmith, 1841. 
Ballads and Other Poems, 1841. 
Skeleton in Armor, 1841. 
Poems on Slavery, 1842. 
Spanish Student, 1843. 
Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems, 1846. 
Evangeline, 1847. 
Kavanagh, 1849. 
Hyperion, 1850. 
* Building the Ship, 1851. 
Golden Legend, 1851. 
Hiawatha, 1855. 
Miles Standish, 1858. 
Birds of Passage, 1858. 
Tales of a Wayside Inn, 1863. 
riower-de-Luce and Other Poems, 1867. 
New England Tragedies, 1868. 
Translation of Dante's Divine' Comedy, 1867-1870. 
Three Books of Song, 1872. 
Hanging of the Crane, 1874. 
Masque of Pandora, 1875. 
Keramos and Other Poems, 1878. 
Ultima Thule, 1880. 
In the Harbor, 1882. 
Michael Angelo and the fragment of a drama, 1883. 

He also edited the Poets and Poetry of Europe in 
1843 and Poems of Places in 1876-1879. 



INTRODUCTION 

" The liero of this song is Manabozho, the culture hero 
and ruler of the gods and animals among the Algonquin 
tribes. He is represented as the principal agent in 
the work of creation, the teacher of the various Indian 
arts of hunting, fishing, and the like, the destroyer of 
monsters, the neutralizer of evil influences and withal 
a great trickster. There seems no doubt that he was 
originally the god of light and day, venerated under 
different names, but with strikingly similar charac- 
teristics, throughout the continent. 

" This Manabozho was the most conspicuous of the 
partly mythical characters of Algonquin tradition. 
He was known among that tribe under the various 
names of Manabozho, Messou, Michabou, Nanabush, 
or the Great Hare. He is king of all the animal 
kings. According to the most current belief, his 
father was the West Wind and his mother a great- 
granddaughter of the moon. His character is worthy 
of such a parentage. Sometimes he is a wolf, a bird, 
or a gigantic hare surrounded by a court of quadru- 
peds ; sometimes he appears in human shape, majestic 
in stature and wondrous in endowment, a mighty ma- 
xiii 



Xiv INTRODUCTION 

gician, a destroyer of serpents and evil manitous ; some- 
times he is a vain and treacherous imp, full of childish 
whims and petty trickery, the butt and victim of men, 
beasts, and spirits. His powers of transformation are 
without limit ; his curiosity and malice are insatiable ; 
and of the numberless legends of which he is the 
hero, the greater part are as trivial as they are inco- 
herent." — Parkman, The Jesuits in North America. 

Many of these tales of Manabozho were collected and 
published by Henry Eowe Schoolcraft, who in 1822 
was made agent for the Indian tribes about Lake 
Superior, having previously explored the copper dis- 
trict of that region. He thenceforth turned his 
attention to history and ethnology. In 1831 he was 
one of the principal founders of the Algic Society in 
Detroit, devoted to the antiquities and ethnology of 
the American aborigines. In 1836 he • was instru- 
mental in settling land disputes with the Chippewas, 
and by the treaties then effected, the United States 
became possessed of vast territory, worth many 
millions of dollars. It was while engaged as Super- 
intendent of Indian Affairs in the Northern Depart- 
ment that he published his Algic Researches (1839).- 
From this period he gave his attention to literary 
pursuits. 

Many of the Ojibway legends which he relates were 
translated by his wife, an'' educated Ojibway half- 
breed. Although Schoolcraft has given more atten- 



INTRODUCTION XV 

tion to this subject of Indian life and mythology than 
any other recent American writer, Parkman says that 
in view of his opportunities and his zeal, his results^! 
are most unsatisfactory. His writings are singularly 
crude and illiterate productions, stuffed with blunders 
and contradictions, and must tax to the utmost the . 
patience of one who would extract from^ them that ; 
which is valuable. ~^ 

Many of his blunders and mistakes, however, are to 
be excused, when it is remembered that they are, to 
some extent, the mistakes and blunders of the old 
chiefs who were the historians and story-tellers of the 
tribe, and from whom Schoolcraft received the legends 
orally, they having, of course, no written accounts. 
An unwritten literature can hardly be constant. 
Contact with the whites and with the Christian reli- 
gion would also result in many modifications of the 
original tradition. 

The real Hiawatha, for there was a real Hiawatha, 
was an Onond'&.ga chief of the fifteenth century. He 
planned a confederacy of the Eive Nations, which 
was eventually to. include all Indian tribes and to 
abolish war. In spite of opposition he succeeded in 
bringing about the union, and then, tradition says, 
devoted himself to the making of roadways and clear- 
ing of streams between the Nations. With the mi- 
gration of the tribes following the Eevolution, the 
wampum records were lost, and gradually, Hiawatha, 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

the benefactor and lawgiver, became confounded with 
Taounyawatha, an Iroquois deity, and Manabozho, an 
Algonquin manitou. (See Hale, A Lawgiver of the 
Stone Age. Proceedings of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science. 1881.) 

Longfellow's interest in the Indians dates from 
early life. During the years spen'' in his native city 
of Portland he may have had some acquaintance with 
the straggling remnant of the Algonquins of Maine. 
A Harvard student, who had spent some time among 
the Indians of the West, is said to have related some 
of their legends to him, requesting him to make 
them the subject of a poem. In 1849 Kah-ge-ga-gah- 
bowh, an jib way chief, lectured in Boston on the 
Religion, Poetry, and Eloquence of the Indians. Long- 
fellow invited the chief to his home, and from this 
visit may have received some valuable suggestions for 
his poem, A few years later this interest culminated 
in a determination to w^ite an Indian poem, and he 
began to search in earnest for material,- hoping to find 
among the many Indian legends one suited to his 
purpose. 

He consulted the Indian accounts by Heckewelder, 
Catlin, and Schoolcraft, and in the latter's Algic Re- 
sear dies found what seemed to him a desirable theme. 
He now decided to weave many of these legends of 
Manabozho into one whole, instead of confining him- 
self to any one legend, as had been his first plan. 



INTRODUCTXON XVll 

In forming his literary hero, Longfellow selects only 
such legends as are suited to the character he intends 
to portray, which is indeed the idealized Indian. But 
through all, he makes him the embodiment of no vir- 
tue, the hero of no adventure, for which he has not the 
authority of Indian tradition. He portrays him as 
the benefactor, like the real Hiawatha, the maker of 
wise laws, builder of roads, clearer of streams, the 
destroyer of evil, a prophet. So Gitche Manito, in 
foretelling his coming, says, — 

" I will send a prophet to you, 
A deliverer of the nations, 
Who shall guide you and shall teach you." 

In Hiawatha's sailing we are told how he and the 
strong man Kwasind sailing up and down the river — 

" Cleared its bed of roots and sand-bar, 
Made its passage safe and certain, 
Made a pathway for the people, 
From its springs among the mountains, 
To the waters of Pauwating, 
To the bay of Taquamenaw." 

When the sea-gulls are pursued by Pau-Puk-Kee-wis 
they cry, — 

" He is slaying us by hundreds ! 
Send a message to our brother, 
Tidings send to Hiawatha ! " 



xvill INTRODUCTION 

The gift of prophecy is given to Hiawatha. When the 
people are incredulous at the tales of lagoo, concern- 
ing the coming of the white man, he says, — 

" True is all lagoo tells us ; 
I have seen it in a vision." 

Then foreseeing the calamities that await his people, 
he tells them his darker, drearier vision of his nation 
scattered : — 

" Sweeping westward, wild and woful, 
Like the cloud-rack of a tempest, 
Like the withered leaves of Autumn." 

Of the vain and treacherous side of Manabozho's 
character, full of malice and trickery, Longfellow makes 
no mention. The nearest approach to this is shown 
in the form of Pau-Puk-Keewis, the mischief-maker : — 

" You shall hear how^ Pau-Puk-Keewis 
Vexed the people with disturbance, 
You shall hear of all his mischief, 
And his flight from Hiawatha, 
And his wondrous transmigrations." 

Longfellow at first intended to call his poem Mana- 
bozho, and this would have been the more appropriate 
name for his Algonquin song. But later being more 
pleased with the name Hiawatha, and thinking, erro- 
neously, the two to be identical, he chose the latter. 
The mistake, however, belongs not to Longfellow, but 
to Schoolcraft, who was the poet's chief source of in- 



INTRODUCTION xix 

formation, and who, in the face of the fact that he is 
relating legends of the Algonquin Chippewas of Lake 
Superior, calls the hero of his account Hiawatha, a 
name peculiarly Iroquois. The inappropriateness of 
the name appears the more glaring when we remem- 
ber the inveterate enmity which existed between the 
Algonquins and the Iroquois. One writer has said 
that the error and absurdity would not be greater were 
Bismarck to be made the chief figure in the glory and 
triumph of a French heroic narrative. We have seen, 
however, that the author is not responsible for the 
mistake and that even Schoolcraft " need not be too 
harshly criticised for his blunders. 

Longfellow adopted the meter of the Finnish epic 
Kalevala, the trochaic tetrameter, in which each line 
is made of four accented syllables, each followed by 
an unaccented one. 

"By the | shores of | Gitche | Gumee, 
By the | shining | Big-Sea j -Water." 

He was accused of taking the entire plan from the 
Kalevala, but the incidents common to both show 
merely the recurrence of early myths. Charges of 
plagiarism are without reason as the poet made no 
secret of the suggestion received for the meter, and 
spoke freely of his indebtedness to Schoolcraft. To a 
friend he wrote, " I can give chapter aiid verse for 
these legends." Genius is not necessarily original. 



XX INTRODUCTION 

" Genius," says Halleck, " enables a man to see an old 
fact in a new light or a new fact in an old light." 
The greatest of dramatists found his plots ready made 
in history and literature. In the elaboration lay his 
genius. 

Dr. Holmes says that Longfellow has shown a subtle 
sense of the requirements of his primitive story in 
choosing the most fluid of measures, that lets the 
thought run through it in easy sing-song, such as 
oral tradition would be sure to find on the lips' of 
story-tellers of the wigwam. 

Parallelism, the repetition of a line or part of a line, 
is another feature of the poem suggested to the author 
by the Kalevala, and tends to satisfy the demand for 
harmony in the absence of rhyme : — 

" Bright before it beat the water, 
Beat the clear and sunny water, 
Beat the shining Big-Sea- Water." 

The poem begun in June, 1854, was published in 
November of the following year. It became immedi- 
ately x>opular, and this popularity was due, no doubt, 
to the novelty and beauty of both theme and meter. 
It also created much interest in the hitherto little- 
known subject of Indian life and mythology. That 
interest grew, and resulted in a popular demand for 
more knowledge of this subject. Students began to 
work in this new field of research, both to discover 



INTRODUCTION XXI 

hidden treasures and to classify the riches already dis- 
covered. 

Therefore to Longfellow is due the credit of having 
preserved to the American people the only native 
folklore. For lack of readers, due to lack of interest 
in the subject, the pioneer efforts of such writers as 
Schoolcraft, Catlin, Hale, Heckewelder, and Warren, 
would have gone out of print, or been shelved in a few 
historical societies for the benefit of the scholar and 
antiquary alone ; and in time, the legends and tradi- 
tions, no longer preserved by whites and no longer 
passed from the lips of old men to the ears of the 
youths of the various tribes, the whole body of Indian 
mythology might have passed away. 



EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE POEM 

The meter and subject-matter of the poem are quite 
as fascinating to children as to adults, and for this 
reason it has found a place, in part at least, in the 
schoolroom. 

Of the many attractive pictures it presents, none is 
more so than the one of primitive home-life in the 
wigwam of ISTokomis, where the little Hiawatha is 
nursed and sung to by the wrinkled old grandmother, 
to whom he puts his childish questions ; where he plays 
with birds and beasts, learning all their secrets ; and 



xxil INTRODUCTION 

where lagoo tells liim stories and trains him in the 
art of hunting, until he grows out of childhood into 
manhood — 

' ' Sliilled in all the craft of hunters, 
Learned m all the lore of old men." 

The friendship of Damon and Pythias is re]3eated 
in that of -Hiawatha and Chibiabos, the musician : — 

" For his gentleness he loved him 
And the magic of his singing." 

No higher ideal of friendship could be given than 
the following : — 

" Story-tellers, mischief-makers, 
Found no eager ear to listen, 
Could not breed ill-will between them. 
For they kept each other's counsel." 

In no other poem, perhaps, is the relation between 
literature and nature more apparent than in this. 
The one supplements the other. The description read 
intensifies the observation, which heretofore may have 
been half unconscious. On the other hand, the obser- 
vation puts content into the passage read. To the one 
who has not the assurance of oft-repeated experiences 
the following passages will mean little. Yet how full 
of meaning they become when supplemented by such 
experience : — 



INTRODUCTION xxtii 

" Level spread tlie lake before him, 

On its margin the great forest 

Stood reflected in the water ; 

Every tree-top had its shadow 

Motionless beneath the water." 
***** 
" Till the shadows, pointing eastward, 

Lengthened over field and forest, 

Till the sun dropped from the heaven, 

Floating on the waters westward. 

As a red leaf in the Autumn 

Falls and floats upon the water, 

Falls and sinks into its bosom." 

Tlie seasonal changes are noted with increased in- 
terest and pleasure after reading such descriptions as 
the following : — 

" When I blow my breath about me, 
When I breathe upon the landscape, 
Motionless are all the rivers 
Hard as stone becomes the water." 
***** 
" When I blow my breath about me. 
When I breathe upon the landscape, 
Flowers spring up o'er all the meadows, 
Singing, onward rush the rivers." 

The geographical setting of the story is frequently 
in evidence, and a knowledge of the same is necessary 
to an intelligent reading of the poem. Every place 
mentioned should be located on the map, but it will 
be far better and more interesting to the pupil if he 



xiiv INTRODUCTION 

also make his own Hiawatha map, filling in the places 
and tracing the journeys as he proceeds with the 
story : — 

" So he journeyed westward, westward, 
Crossed the rushing Esconaba, 
Crossed the mighty Mississippi, 
Passed the Mountains of the Prairie, 
Came unto tlie Rocky Mountains." 

The following quotation embraces the geography of 
half the continent, and suggests an actual geographical 
picture rather than remains a mere flow of rhythmic 
sounds : — 

" From the vale of Tawasentha, 
From the valley of Wyoming, 
From the groves of Tuscaloosa, 
From the far-off Rocky Mountains, 
From the Northern lakes and rivers. ' ' 

The Greek boys learned the geography of their 
country from the enumeration of the ships in the 
Iliad. So, in a small way, our boys and girls may 
learn something of the extent of the United States 
while reading Hiawatha. 

The poem cannot be assigned to any one grade. 
There is something in it which delights and appeals to 
children in every grade. This is evident in "Hia- 
watha's Childhood" which has been used to such an 
extent in primary schools. The following course is 
suggested for the other different grades. 



INTRODUCTION xxy 

First Grade. 

Hiawatha's Childhood. 

Lines 64-85 ; 98-116 ; 127-158. 

Second Grade. 

Hiawatha's Childhood. 
Lines 158-235. 

Third Grade. 

Hiawatha's Friends. Hiawatta's Sailing. 

Fourth axd Fifth Grades. 

Hiawatha's Fasting. Hiawatha's Fishing, 
Picture- Writing. 

Tales of Adventure. 

Hiawatha and Mudjekeewis. 
Hiawatha and the Pearl-Feather. 
Pau-Pnk-Keewis. 

Sixth Grade 

The Peace-Pipe. The Famine. 

Blessing the Cornfields. The White Man's Foot. 

Hiawatha's Wooing. 

This still leaves something new for the latter part of 
the sixth year or the seventh year, where the entire 
poem should be read by the pupils, with the bio- 
graphical, historical, and geographical setting, that 
they may know the poem as a literary whole. 



XXVI INTRODUCTION 

In the first presentation the poem may well be read 
to the class with such elaborations and explanations as 
are necessary, Avhile in the final treatment the pupils 
should have the books and read for themselves. The 
memorizing of very many of the beautiful descriptions 
is an important feature of the course. For a further 
treatment of the educational value of the poem the 
reader is referred to McMurry's Special Method in 
Primary E-eading. 



THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 



INTRODUCTION 

Should you ask me^ whence tliese stories ? 

Whence these legends and traditions, 

With the odors of the forest, 

With the dew and damp of meadows, 

With the curling smoke of wigwams. 

With the rushing of great rivers, 

With their frequent repetitions. 

And their wild reverberations, 

As of thunder in the mountains ? 

I should answer, I should tell you, 
" From the forests and the prairies, 
From the great lakes of the ISTortliland, 
From the land of the Ojibways, 
From the land of the Dacotahs, 
From the mountains, moors, and fen-lands. 
Where the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gali, 
Feeds among the reeds and rushes. 
I repeat them as I heard them 

B 1 



THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

From tlie lips of Nawaclaba, 
The musician, the sweet singer." 

Should you ask where Nawadaha 
Found these songs, so wild and wayward, 
Found these legends and traditions, 
I should answer, I should tell you, 
^' In the bird's-nests of the forest, 
In the lodges of the beaver, 
In the hoof -prints of the bison. 
In the eyry of the eagle ! 

" All the wild-fowl sang them to him, 
In the .moorlands and the fen-lands, 
In the melancholy marshes ; 
Chetowaik, the plover, sang them, 
Mahng, the loon, the wild-goose, Wawa, 
The blue heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah, 
And the grouse, the Mushkodasa ! " 

If still further you should ask me. 
Saying, " Who was Nawadaha ? 
Tell us of this Nawadaha," 
I should answer your inquiries 
Straightway in such words as follow. 

" In the Yale of Tawasentha, 
In the green and silent valley, 
By the pleasant water-courses, 
Dwelt the sino-er Nawadaha. 



INTRODUCTION 

Eound about the Indian village 
Spread the meadows and the corn-fields, 
And beyond them stood the forest, 
Stood the groves of singing pine-trees, 
Green in Summer, white in Winter, 
Ever sighing, ever singing. 

" And the pleasant water-courses. 
You could trace them through the valley, 
By the rushing in the Spring-time, 
By the alders in the Summer, 
By the white fog in 'ihe Autumn, 
By the black line in the Winter ; 
And beside them dwelt the singer, 
In the Vale of Tawasentha, 
In the green and silent valley. 

" There he sang of Hiawatha, 
Sang the Song of Hiawatha, 
Sang his wondrous birth and being. 
How he prayed and how he fasted. 
How he lived, and toiled, and suffered. 
That the tribes of men might prosper. 
That he might advance his people ! " 

Ye who love the haunts of nature, 
Love the sunshine of the meadow. 
Love the shadow pf the forest. 
Love the wind among the branches. 



THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

And the rain-shower and the snow-storm, 
And the rushing of great rivers 
Through their palisades of pine-trees, 
And the thunder in the mountains, 
Whose innumerable echoes 
Flap like eagles in their eyries; — 
Listen to these wild traditions, 
To this Song of Hiawatha ! 

Ye who love a nation's legends. 
Love the ballads of a people, 
That like voices from afar off 
Call to us to pause and listen, 
Speak in tones so plain and childlike. 
Scarcely can the ear distinguish 
Whether they are sung or spoken ; — 
Listen to this Lidian Legend, 
To this Song of Hiawatha ! 

Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple. 
Who have faith in God and Nature, 
Who believe, that in all ages 
Every human heart is human. 
That in even savage bosoms 
There are longings, yearnings, strivings 
For the good they comprehend not, 
That the feeble hands and helpless. 
Groping blindly in the darkness. 



INTRODUCTION 

Touch God's right hand in that darkness 
And are lifted up and strengthened ; — 
Listen to this simple story, 
To this Song of Hiawatha ! 

Ye, who sometimes, in your rambles 
Through the green lanes of the country. 
Where the tangled barberry-bushes 
Hang their tufts of crimson berries 
Over stone walls gray with mosses, 
Pause by some neglected graveyard, 
For a while to muse, and ponder 
On a half-effaced inscription. 
Written with little skill of song-craft. 
Homely phrases, but each letter 
Full of hope and yet of heart-break. 
Full of all the tender pathos 
Of the Here and the' Hereafter ; — 
Stay and read this rude inscription, 
Kead this Song of Hiawatha ! 



THE PEACE-PIPE 

Ox the Mountains of the Prairie, 
On the great Red Pipe-stone Quarry 
Gitche Manito, the mighty, 
He the Master of Life, descending, 
On the red crags of tlie quarry 
Stood erect, and called the nations, 
Called the tribes of men together. 

From his footprints flowed a river. 
Leaped into the light of morning. 
O'er the precipice plunging downward 
Gleamed like Ishkoodah, the comet. 
And the Spirit, stooping earthward, 
With his finger on the meadow 
Traced a winding pathway for it, 
Saying to it, " Pun in this way ! " 

From the red stone of the quarry 
With his hand he broke a fragment. 
Moulded it into a pipe-head. 
Shaped and fashioned it with figures ; 
6 



THE PEACE-PIPE 

From the margin of the river 
Took a long reed for a pipe-stem^ 
With its dark green leaves upon it ; 
Filled the pipe with bark of willow, 
With the bark of the red willow ; 
Breathed upon the neighboring forest, 
Made its great" boughs chafe together, 
Till in flame they burst and kindled ; 
And erect upon the mountains, 
Gitche Manito, the mighty. 
Smoked the calumet, the Peace-Pipe, 
As a signal to the nations. 

And the smoke rose slowly, slowly. 
Through the tranquil air of morning. 
First a single line of darkness. 
Then a denser, bluer vapor. 
Then a snow-white cloud unfolding, 
Like the tree-tops of the forest, 
Ever rising, rising, rising. 
Till it touched the top of heaven. 
Till it broke against the heaven. 
And rolled outward all around it. 

From the Vale of Tawasentha, 
From the Valley of Wyoming, 
From the groves of Tuscaloosa, 
From the far-off Eocky Mountains, 



THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

From the Northern lakes and rivers 
All the tribes beheld the signal, 
Saw the distant smoke ascending, 
The Pukwana of the Peace-Pipe. 

And the Prophets of the nations 
Said : " Behold it, the Pukwana ! 
By this signal from afar off, 
Bending like a wand of willow, 
Waving like a hand that beckons, 
Gitche Manito, the mighty. 
Calls the tribes of men together, 
Calls^the warriors to his council ! " 

Down the rivers, o'er the prairies, 
Came the warriors of the nations. 
Came the Delawares and Mohawks, 
Came the Choctaws and Camanches, 
Came the Shoshonies and Blackfeet, 
Came the Pawnees and Omahas, 
Came the Mandans and Dacotahs, 
Came the Huron s and Ojibways, 
All the warriors drawn together 
By the signal of the Peace-Pipe, 
To the Mountains of the Prairie, 
To the Great Red Pipe-stone Quarry. 

And they stood there on the meadow, 
With their weapons and their w^ar-gear. 



THE PEACE-PIPE 

Painted like the leaves of Autumn, 

Painted like the sky of morning, 

Wildly glaring at each other ; 

In their faces stern defiance, 

In their hearts the feuds of ages, 

The hereditary hatred, 

The ancestral thirst of vengeance. 

Gitche Manito, the mighty, 
The creator of the nations, 
Looked upon them with compassion, 
With paternal love and pity ; 
Looked upon their wrath and wrangling 
But as quarrels among children, 
But as feuds and fights of children ! 

Over them he stretched his right hand, 
To subdue their stubborn natures, 
To allay their thirst and fever, 
By the shadow of his right hand ; 
Spake to them with voice majestic 
As the sound of far-off waters. 
Falling into deep abysses, 
Warning, chiding, spake in this wise : — 

" my children ! my poor children ! 
Listen to the words of wisdom. 
Listen to the words of warning, 
From the lips of the Great Spirit, 



10 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

From the Master of Life, who made you ! 

"I have given you lands'to hunt in, 
I have given you streams to fish in, 
I have given you bear and bison, 
I have given you roe and reindeer, 
I have given you brant and beaver, 
Filled the marshes full of wild-fowl. 
Filled the rivers full of fishes ; 
Why then are you not contented ? 
Why then will you hunt each other ? 

" I am weary of your quarrels. 
Weary of your wars and bloodshed, 
Weary of your prayers for vengeance. 
Of your wranglings and dissensions; 
All your strength is in your union. 
All your danger is in discord ; 
Therefore be at peace henceforward. 
And as brothers live together. 

" I will send a Prophet to you, 
A Deliverer of the nations. 
Who shall guide you and shall teach you. 
Who shall toil and suffer with you. 
If you listen to his counsels. 
You will multiply and prosper ; 
If his warnings pass unheeded, 
You will fade away and perish ! 



THE PEACE-PIPE 11 

" Bathe now in the stream before you, 
Wash the war-paint from your faces, 125 

Wash the blood-stains from your fingers, 
Bury your war-clubs and your weapons, 
Break the red stone from this quarry. 
Mould and make it into Peace-Pipes, 
Take the reeds that grow beside you, 130 

Deck them with your brightest feathers. 
Smoke the calnmet together, 
And as brothers live henceforward ! " 

Then upon the ground the warriors 
Threw their cloaks and shirts of deer-skin, 135 
Threw their weapons and their war-gear. 
Leaped into the rushing river. 
Washed the war-paint from their faces. 
Clear above them flowed the water. 
Clear and limpid from the footprints 140 

Of the Master of Life descending ; 
Dark below them flowed the water. 
Soiled and stained with streaks of crimson, 
As if blood were mingled with it ! 

Prom the river came the warriors, 145 

Clean and washed from all their war-paint ; 
On the banks their clubs they buried. 
Buried all their warlike weapons. 
Gitche Manito, the mighty, 



12 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

The Great Spirit, the creator, 
Smiled upon his helpless children ! 

And in silence all the warriors 
Broke the red stone of the quarry. 
Smoothed and formed it into Peace-Pipes, 
Broke the long reeds by the river, 
Decked them with their brightest feathers. 
And departed each one homeward, 
While the Master of Life, ascending, 
Through the opening of cloud-curtains. 
Through the doorways of the heaven. 
Vanished from before their faces. 
In the smoke that rolled around him, 
The Pukwana of the Peace-Pipe. 



II 



THE FOUR WINDS 



" HoNOK be to Mudjekeewis ! " 
Cried the warriors, cried the old men, 
When he came in triumpli homeward 
With the sacred Belt of Wampum, 
From the regions of the North- Wind, 
From the kingdom of Wabasso, 
From the land of the White Eabbit. 
He had stolen the Belt of Wampum 
From the neck of Mishe-Mokwa, 
From the Great Bear of the mountains, 
From the terror of the nations, 
As he lay asleep and cumbrous 
On the summit of the mountains. 
Like a rock with mosses on it, 
Spotted brown and gray with mosses. 

Silently he stole upon him. 
Till the red nails of the monster 
Almost touched him, almost scared him. 
Till the hot breath of his nostrils 
13 



14 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Warmed the hands of Mudjekeewis, 
As he drew the Belt of Wampum 
Over the round ears, that heard not, 
Over the small eyes, that saw not, 
Over the long nose and nostrils, 
The black muffle of the nostrils. 
Out of which the heavy breathing 
Warmed the hands of Mudjekeewis. 

Then he swung aloft his Avar-club, 
Shouted long and loud his war-cry. 
Smote the mighty Mishe-Mokwa 
In the middle of the forehead, 
Eight between the eyes he smote him. 

With the heavy blow bewildered, 
Eose the Great Bear of the mountains ; 
But his knees beneath him trembled, 
And he whimpered like a woman, 
As he reeled and staggered forward, 
As he sat upon his haunches ; 
And the mighty Mudjekeewis, 
Standing fearlessly before him. 
Taunted him in loud derision. 
Spake disdainfully in this wise : — 

'' Hark yon. Bear ! you are a coward. 
And no Brave, as you pretended ; 
Else you Avould not cry and whimper 



THE FOUR WINDS 15 

Like a miserable woman ! 

Bear ! you know Our tribes are hostile, 

Long have been at war together ; 

Now you find that we are strongest, 

You go sneaking in the forest, 50 

You go hiding in the mountains ! 

Had you conquered me in battle 

Not a groan would I have uttered ; 

But you. Bear ! sit here and whimper. 

And disgrace your tribe by crying, 55 

Like a wretched Shaugodaya, 

Like a cowardly old woman ! " 

Then again he raised his war-club, 
Smote again the Mishe-Mokwa 
In the middle of his forehead, 60 

Broke his skull, as ice is broken 
When one goes to fish in Winter. 
Thus was slain the Mishe-Mokwa, 
He the Great Bear of the mountains. 
He the terror of the nations. 65 

" Honor be to Mudjekeewis ! " 
With a shout exclaimed the people, 
" Honor be to Mudjekeewis ! 
Henceforth he shall be the West- Wind, 
And hereafter and forever 70 

Shall he hold supreme dominion 



16 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Over all the winds of heaven. 
Call him no more Mudjekeewis, 
Call him Kabeyun, the West-Wind ! " 

Thus was Mudjekeewis chosen 
Father of the Winds of Heaven. 
For himself he kept the West-Wind^ 
Gave the others to his children ; 
Unto Wabun gave the East- Wind, 
Gave the South to Shawandasee, 
And the ISTorth-Wind, wild and cruel, 
To the fierce Kabibonokka. 

Young and beautiful was Wabun ; 
He it was who brought the morning, 
He it was whose silver arrows 
Chased the dark o'er hill and valley ; 
He it was whose cheeks were painted 
With the brightest streaks of crimson, 
And whose voice awoke the village. 
Called the deer, and called the hunter. 

Lonely in the sky was Wabun ; 
Though the birds sang gayly to him, 
Though the wild-flowers of the meadow 
Filled the air with odors for him. 
Though the forests and the rivers 
Sang and shouted at his coming, 
Still his heart was sad within him, 



THE FOUR WINDS 17 

For he was alone in heaven. 

But one morning, gazing earthward, 
While the village still was sleeping, loo 

And the fog lay on the river, 
Like, a ghost, that goes at snnrise, 
He beheld a maiden walking 
All alone upon a meadow, 

Gathering water-flags and rushes 105 

By a river in the meadow. 

Every morning, gazing earthward, 
Still the first thing he beheld there 
Was her blue ej^es looking at him. 
Two blue lakes among the rushes. no 

lAnd he loved the lonely maiden. 
Who thus waited for his coming; 
For they both were solitary, 
She on earth and he in heaven. 

And he wooed her with caresses, 115 

Wooed her with his smile of sunshine. 
With his flattering words he wooed her, 
With his sighing and his singing, 
Gentlest whispers in the branches, 
Softest music, sweetest odors, 120 

Till he drew her to his bosom. 
Folded in his robes of crimson. 
Till into a star he changed her, 



18 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Trembling still upon his bosom ; 

And forever in the heavens . , 125 

T-hey are seen together walking, 

Wabun and the Wabun-Annung, 

Wabun and the Star of Morning. 

But the fierce Kabibonokka 
Had his dwelling among icebergs, 130 

In the everlasting snow-drifts, 
In the kingdom of Wabasso, 
In the land of the White Eabbit. 
He it was whose hand in Autumn 
Painted all the trees with scarlet, 135 

Stained the leaves with red and yellow ; 
He it was who sent the snowflakes, 
Sifting, hissing through the forest. 
Froze the ]3onds, the lakes, the rivers, 
.Drove the loon and sea-gull southward, 140 

Drove the cormorant and heron 
To their nests of sedge and sea-tang 
In the realms of Shawondasee. 

Once the fierce Kabibonokka 
Issued from his lodge of snow-drifts, 145 

From his home among the icebergs, 
And his hair, with snow besprinkled. 
Streamed behind him like a river, 
Like a black and wintry river, 



THE FOUR WINDS 19 

As he howled and hurried southward, 150 

Over frozen lakes and moorlands. 

There among the reeds and rushes 
Found he Shingebis, the diver^ 
Trailing strings of fish behind him, 
O'er the frozen fens and moorlands, 155 

Lingering still among the moorlands 
Though his tribe had long departed 
To the land of Shawondasee. 

Cried the fierce Kabibonokka, 
" Who is this that dares to brave me ? 160 

Dares to stay in my dominions, 
When the Wawa has departed. 
When the wild goose has gone southward. 
And the heron the Shuh-shuh-gah, 
Long ago departed southward ? 165 

I will go into his wigwam, 
I will put his smouldering fire out ! " 

And at night Kabibonokka 
. To the lodge came wild and wailing. 
Heaped the snow in drifts about it, 170 

Shouted down into the smoke-flue, 
Shook the lodge poles ill his fury, 
Mapped the curtain of the door-way. 
Shingebis, the diver, feared not, 
Shingebis, the diver cared not ; 175 



THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Four great logs had he for firewood, ' 

One for each, moon of the winter^ 

And for food the fishes served him. 

By his blazing fire he sat there, 

Warm and merry, eating, laughing, i8c 

Singing, " Kabibonokka, 

You are but my fellow mortal ! '' 

Then Kabibonokka entered. 
And though Shingebis, the diver, 
Felt his presence by the coldness, 185 

Felt his icy breath upon him, 
Still he did not cease his singing, 
Still he did not leave his laughing, 
Only turned the log a little. 
Only made the fire burn brighter, 190 

Made the sparks fly up the smoke-flue. 

From Kabibonokka' s forehead. 
From his snow-besprinkled tresses, 
Drops of sweat fell fast and heavy, 
Making dints upon the ashes, 195 

As along the eaves of lodges. 
As from drooping boughs of hemlock. 
Drips the melting snow in springtime. 
Making hollows in the snow-drifts. 

Till at last he rose defeated, 200 

Could not bear the heat and laughter. 



THE FOUR WINDS £1 

Could not bear the merry singing, 

But rushed headlong through the door-way, 

Stamped upon the crusted snow-drifts, 

Stamped upon the lakes and rivers, 205 

Made the snow upon them harder. 

Made the ice upon them thicker, . 

Challenged Shingebis, the diver, 

To come forth and wrestle with him. 

To come forth and wrestle naked 210 

On the frozen fens and moorlands. 

Forth went Shingebis, the diver, 
Wrestled all night with the North-Wind, 

Wrestled naked on the moorlands 
With the fierce Kabibonokka, 2x5 

Till his panting breath grew fainter. 
Till his frozen grasp grew feebler. 
Till he reeled and staggered backward, 

And retreated, baffled, beaten. 
To the kingdom of Wabasso, 220 

To the land of the White Eabbit, 
Hearing still the gusty laughter, 
Hearing Shingebis, the diver. 
Singing, " Kabibonokka, 
You are but my fellow mortal ! " 225 

Shawondasee, fat and lazy. 
Had his dwelling far to southward, 



22* THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

In the drowsy, dreamy sunshine, 

In the never-ending Summer. 

He it was who sent the wood-birds, 230 

Sent the robin, the Opechee, 

Sent the bluebird, the Owaissa, 

Sent the Shawshaw, sent the swallow, 

Sent the wild-goose, Wawa, northward, 

Sent the melons and tobacco, 235 

And the grapes in purple clusters. 

From his pipe the smoke ascending 
Filled the sky with haze and vapor, 

Filled the air with dreamy softness. 
Gave a twinkle to the water, 240 

Touched the rugged hills with smoothness. 
Brought the tender Indian summer 
In the Moon when nights are brightest, 
In the dreary M(5bn of Snow-shoes. 

Listless, careless Shawondasee ! 245 

In his life he had one shadow. 
In his heart one sorrow had he. 
Once, as he was gazing northward, 
Far away upon a prairie, 

He beheld a maiden standing, 250 

Saw a tall and slender maiden 
All alone upon a prairie; 
Brightest green were all her garments 



THE FOUR WINDS 

Ana her hair was like the sunshine. 

Day by day he gazed upon her, 
Day by day he sighed with passion, 
Day by day his lieart within him 
Grew more hot with love and longing 
For the maid with yellow tresses. 
But he was too fat and lazy 
To bestir himself and woo her ; 
Yes, too indolent and easy 
To pursue her and persuade her. 
So he only gazed upon her. 
Only sat and sighed with passion, 
For the maiden-of the prairie. 

Till one morning, looking northward, 
He beheld her yellow tresses 
Changed and covered o'er with whiteness, 
Covered as with whitest snowflakes. 
" Ah ! my brother from the ISTorth-land, 
From the kingdom of Wabasso, 
From the land of the White Eabbit ! 
You have stolen the maiden from me, 
You have laid your hand upon her. 
You have wooed and won my maiden, 
With your stories of the North-land ! " 

Thus the wretched Shawondasee 
Brea,thed into the air his sorrow ; 



24 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

And the South-Wind o'er the prairie 
Wandered warm with sighs of passion, 
With the sighs of Shawondasee, 
Till the air seemed full of snowflakes, 
Full of thistle-down the prairie, 
And the maid with hair like sunshine 
Vanished from his sight forever ; 
Never more did Shawondasee 
See the maid with yellow tresses ! 

Poor, deluded Shawondasee ! 
'T was no woman that you gazed at, 
'T was no maiden that you sighed for, 
'T was the prairie dandelion 
That through all the dreamy Summer 
You had gazed at with such longing, 
You had sighed for with such passion, 
And had puffed away forever, 
Blown into the air with sighing. 
Ah ! deluded Shawondasee ! 

Thus the Four Winds were divided ; 
Thus the sons of Mudjekeewis 
Had their stations in the heavens. 
At the corners of the heavens ; 
For himself the West-Wind only 
Kept the mighty Mudjekeewis. 



Ill 

Hiawatha's childhood 

Downward through the evening twilight, 

In the days that are forgotten^ 

In the unremembered ages, 

From the full moon fell Nokomis, 

Fell the beautiful ISTokomis, 

She a wife, but not a mother. 

She was sporting with her women 
Swinging in a swing of grape-vines, 
When her rival, the rejected. 
Full of jealousy and hatred, 
Cut the leafy swing asunder, 
Cut in twain the twisted grape-vines. 
And Xokomis fell affrighted 
Downward through the evening twilight, 
On the Muskoday, the meadow, 
On the prairie full of blossoms. 
'^ See ! a star falls ! " said the people : 
" From the sky a star is falling ! " 

There among the ferns and mosses, 
25 



26 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

There among the prairie lilies, 
On the Muskoclay, the meadow, 
In the moonlight and the starlight, 
Fair Nokomis bore a daughter. 
And she called her name Wenonah, 
As the hrst-born of her daughtexs. 
And the daughter of Nokomis 
Grew up like the prairie lilies, 
Grew a tall and slender maiden. 
With the beauty of the moonlight. 
With the beauty of the starlight. 

And Nokomis warned her often, 
Saying oft, and oft repeating, 
" 0, beware of Mudjekeewis ; 
Of the West-Wind, Mudjekeewis; 
Listen not to what he tells you ; 
Lie not down upon the meadow, 
Stoop not down among the lilies, 
Lest the West-Wind come and harm you ! 

But she heeded not the warning. 
Heeded not those words of wisdom. 
And the West-Wind came at evening. 
Walking lightly o'er the prairie. 
Whispering to the leaves and blossoms, 
Bending low the flowers and grasses. 
Found the beautiful Wenonah, 



HIAWATHA'S CHILDHOOD 27 

Lying there among the lilies, 

Wooed her with his words of sweetness, 

AVooed her with his soft caresses, 

Till she bore a son in sorrow, 

Bore a son of love and sorrow. 50 

Thus was born my Hiawatha, 
Thus was born the child of wonder ; 
But the daughter of Nokomis, 
Hiawatha's gentle mother. 

In her anguish died deserted 55 

By the West- Wind, false and faithless, 
By the heartless Mudjekeewis. 

For her daughter long and loudly 
Wailed and wept the sad ]!:^okomis ; 
" that I were dead,'' she murmured, 60 

" that I were dead, as thou art ! 
No more work, and no more weeping, 
W^ahonomin ! Wahonomin ! " 

By the shores of Gitche Gumee, 
By the shining Big-Sea- Water, 65 

Stood the wigwam of Nokomis, 
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis. 
Dark behind it rose the forest, " 
Eose the black and gloomy pine-trees^ 
Eose the firs with cones upon them ; 70 

Bright before it beat the water, 



28 THE IsONG OF HIAWjlIHA 

Bea,t the clear and sunny water, 
Beat the shining Big-Sea- Water. 

TI ore the wrinkled, old Nokomis 
Nursed the little Hiawatha, 
Rocked him in his linden cradle, 
Bedded soft in moss and rushes, 
Safely bound with reindeer sinevv'^s ; 
Stilled his fretful wail by saying, 
" Hush ! the Naked Bear will hear thee ! " 
Lulled him into slumber, singing, 
" Ewa-yea ! my little owlet ! 
Who is this that lights the wigwam ? 
With his great eyes lights the wigwam ? 
Ewa-yea ! my little owlet ! " * . 

Many things ISTokomis taught him 
Of the stars that shine in heaven ; 
Showed him, Ishkoodah, the comet, 
Ishkoodah, with fiery tresses ; 
Showed the Death-Dance of the spirits, 
Warriors with their plumes and war-clubs. 
Flaring far away to northward 
In the frosty nights of Winter ; 
Showed the broad, white road in heaven. 
Pathway of the ghosts, the shadows, 
Running straight across the heavens. 
Crowded with the ghosts, the shadows. 



HI A WA THA ' S CHIL DUO OB 29 

At the door on summer evenings 
Sat the little Hiawatha ; 

Heard the whispering of the pine-trees, loo 

Heard the lapping of the water, 
Sounds of music, words of wonder ; 
" Minne-wawa ! " said the pine-trees, 
" Mudway-aushka ! " said the water. 

Saw the fire-fly, Wah-wah-taysee, 105 

Flitting through the dusk of evening. 
With the twinkle of its candle 
Lighting up the brakes and bushes, 
And he sang the song of children, 
Sang the song Nokomis taught him : no 

" Wah-wah-taysee, little firefly. 
Little, flitting, white-fire insect. 
Little, dancing, white-fire creature, 
Light me with your little candle. 
Ere upon my bed I lay me, 115 

Ere in sleep I close my eyelids ! " 

Saw the moon rise from the water, 
Eippling, rounding from the water. 
Saw the flecks and shadows on it. 
Whispered, " What is that, Nokomis ? " 120 

And the good Nokomis answered, 
" Once a warrior, very angry. 
Seized his grandmother, and threw her 



30 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Up into the sky at midnight ; 

Right against the moon he threw her ; 125 

'T is her body that you see there." 

Saw the rainbow in the heaven, 
In the eastern sky, the rainbow, 
Whispered, " What is that, Nokomis ? " 
"And the good Nokomis answered : 130 

" 'T is the heaven of flowers you see there ; 
All the wild-flowers of the forest. 
All the lilies of the prairie, 
When on earth they fade and perish, 
Blossom in that heaven above us." 13.S 

When he heard the owls at midnight, 
Hooting, laughing in the forest, 
" What is that ? " he cried in terror ; 
" What is that ? " he said, " Nokomis ? " 
And the good Nokomis answered : 140 

" That is but the owl and owlet. 
Talking in their native language, 
Talking, scolding at each other." 

Then the little Hiawatha 
Learned of every bird its language, * 145 

Learned their names and all their secrets. 
How they built their nests in Summer, 
Where they hid themselves in Winter, 
Talked with them whene'er he met them, 



HIAWATHA'S CHILDHOOD 31 

Called them " Hiawatha's chickens." 150 

Of all beasts he learned the language. 
Learned their names and all their secrets, 
How the beavers built their lodges, 
Where the squirrels hid their acorns, . 
How the reindeer ran so swiftly, 155 

Why the rabbit was so timid, 
Talked with them whene'er he met them. 
Called them " Hiawatha's brothers." 

Then lagoo, the great boaster. 
He the marvellous story-teller, 160 

He the traveller and the talker. 
He the friend of old Nokomis, 
Made a bow for Hiawatha ; 
From a branch of ash he made it. 
From an oak-bough made the arrows, 165 

Tipped with flint, and winged with feathers, 
And the cord he made of deer-skin. 

Then he said to Hiawatha : 
" Go, my son, into the forest. 
Where the red deer herd together, 170 

Kill for us a famous roebuck. 
Kill for us a deer with antlers ! " 

Forth into the forest straightway 
All alone walked Hiawatha 
Proudly with his bow and arrows ; 175 



32 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

And the birds sang round him, o'er him, 
" Do not shoot us, Hiawatha ! '' 
Sang the robin, the Opechee, 
Sang the bluebird, the Owaissa, 
" Do not shoot us, Hiawatha ! " 

Up the oak-tree, close beside him, 
Sprang the squirrel, Adjidaumo, 
In and out among the branches, 
Coughed and chattered from the oak-tree. 
Laughed, and said between his laughing, 
" Do not shoot me, Hiawatha ! " 

And the rabbit from his pathway 
Leaped aside, and at a distance 
Sat erect upon his haunches. 
Half in fear and half in frolic, 
Saying to the little hunter, 
''Do not shoot me, Hiawatha!" 

But he heeded not, nor heard them, 
Eor his thoughts were with the red deer ; 
On their tracks his eyes were fastened. 
Leading" downward to the river. 
To the ford across the river. 
And as one in slumber walked he. 

Hidden in the alder-bushes. 
There he waited till the deer came, 
Till he saw two antlers lifted, 



HIAWATHA'S CHILDHOOD 38 

Saw two eyes look from the thicket, 

Saw two nostrils point to windward, 

And a deer came down the pathway, 

Flecked with leafy light and shadow. 205 

And his heart within him fluttered. 

Trembled like the leaves above him. 

Like the birch-leaf palpitated, 

As the deer came down the pathway. 

Then upon one knee uprising, 210 

Hiawatha aimed an arrow ; 
Scarce a twig moved with his motion, 
Scarce a leaf was stirred or rustled ; 
But the wary roebuck started. 
Stamped with all his hoofs together, 215 

Listened with one foot uplifted, 
Leaped as if to meet the arrow ; 
Ah! the singing, fatal arrow, 
Like a wasp it buzzed and stung him. 

Dead he lay there in the forest, 220 

By the ford across the river; 
Beat his timid heart no longer ; 
But the heart of Hiawatha 
Throbbed and shouted and exulted, 
As he bore the red deer homeward ; 225 

And lagoo and Nokomis 
Hailed his coming with applauses. 



34 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

From the red deer's hide Nokomis 
Made a cloak for Hiawatha, 
From the red deer's flesh ISTokomis 
Made a banquet in his honor. 
All the village came and feasted, 
All the guests praised Hiawatha, 
Called him Strong-Heart, Soan-ge-taha ! 
Called him Loon-Heart, Mahn-go-taysee ! 



IV 

HIAWATHA AND MUDJEKEEWIS 

Out of cliildhood into manhood 
Now had grown my Hiawatha, 
Skilled in all the craft of hunters, 
Learned in all the lore of old men, 
In all youthful sports and pastimes, 
In all manly arts and labors. 

Swift of foot was Hiawatha ; 
He could shoot an arrow from him. 
And run forward with such fleetness, 
That the arrow fell behind him ! ] 

Strong of arm was Hiawatha ; 
He could shoot ten arrows upw^ard. 
Shoot them with such strength and swiftness. 
That the tenth had left the bow-string 
Ere the first to earth had fallen ! i 

He had mittens, Minjekahwun, 
Magic mittens made of deer-skin ; 
When upon his hands he wore them, 
He could smite the rocks asunder, 



36 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

He could grind them into powder. 
He had moccasins enchanted, 
Magic moccasins of deer-skin ; 
When he bound them round his ankles, 
When upon his feet he tied them, 
At each stride a mile he measured ! 

Much he questioned old Nokomis 
Of his father Mudjekeewis ; 
Learned from her the fatal secret 
Of the beauty of his mother, 
Of the falsehood of his father ; 
And his heart was hot within him, 
Like a living coal his heart was. 

Then he said to old Nokomis, 
" I will go to Mudjekeewis, 
See how fares it with my father. 
At the door-ways of the West- Wind, 
At the portals of the Sunset ! " 

Prom his lodge went Hiawatha, 
Dressed for travel, armed for hunting ; 
Dressed in deer-skin shirt and leggings, 
Eichly wrought with quills and wampum : 
On his head his eagle feathers, 
Round his waist his belt of wampum. 
In his hand his bow of ash- wood. 
Strung with sinews of the reindeer ; 



HIAWATHA AND MUDJEKEEWIS 37 

In his quiver oaken arrows, 

Tipped with jasper, winged with feathers ; 

With his mittens, Minjekahwun, 

With his moccasins enchanted. 

Warning said the old Nokomis, 50 

'' Go not forth, Hiawatha ! 
To the kingdom of the West- Wind, 
To the realms of Mndjekeewis, 
Lest he harm yon with his magic. 
Lest he kill you with his cunning ! '' 55 

But the fearless Hiawatha 
Heeded not her woman's warning ; 
Forth he strode into the forest, 
At each stride a mile he measured ; 
Lurid seemed the sky above him, 60 

Lurid seemed the earth beneath him. 
Hot and close the air around him, 
Filled with smoke and fiery vapors, 
As of burning woods and prairies, 
For his heart was hot within him, 65 

Like a living coal his heart was. 

So he journeyed westward, Avestward, 
Left the fleetest deer behind him. 
Left the antelope and bison ; 
Crossed the rushing Esconaba, •jo 

Crossed the mighty Mississippi, 



38 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Passed the Mountains of the Prairie, 
Passed the land of Crows and Foxes, 
Passed the dwellings of the Blackfeet, 
Came unto the Eocky Mountains, 
To the kingdom of the West- Wind, 
Where upon the gusty summits. 
Sat the ancient Mudjekeewis, 
Euler of the winds of heaven. 

Pilled with awe was Hiawatha 
At the aspect of his father. 
On the air about him wildly 
Tossed and streamed his cloudy tresses, 
Gleamed like drifting snow his tresses, 
Glared like Ishkoodah, the comet. 
Like the star with fiery tresses. 

Pilled with joy was Mudjekeewis 
When he looked on Hiav/atha, 
Saw his youth rise up before him 
In the face of Hiawatha, 
Saw the beauty of Wenonah 
Prom the grave rise up before him. 

^' Welcome ! " said he, " Hiawatha, 
To the kingdom of the West- Wind ! 
Long have I been waiting for you ! 
Youth is lovely, age is lonely. 
Youth is fiery, age is frosty ; 



HIAWATHA AND MUDJEKEEWIS 39 

You bring back the days departed, 

You bring back my youth of passion, 

And the beautiful Wenonah ! " loo 

Many days they talked together, 
Questioned, listened, waited, answered; 
Much the mighty Mudjekeewis 
Boasted of his ancient prowess, 
Of his perilous adventures, 105 

His indomitable courage, 
His invulnerable body. 

Patiently sat Hiawatha, 
Listening to his father's boasting; 
With a smile he sat and listened, no 

Uttered neither threat nor menace, 
Neither word nor look betrayed him, 
But his heart was hot within him. 
Like a living coal his heart was. 

Then he said, '^ Mudjekeewis, 115 

Is there nothing that can harm you ? 
Nothing that you are afraid of ? " 
And the mighty Mudjekeewis, 
Grand and gracious in his boasting. 
Answered, saying, " There is nothing, 120 

Nothing but the black rock yonder, 
Nothing but the fatal Wawbeek ! " 

And he looked at Hiawatha 



40 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

With a wise look and benignant, 

With a countenance paternal, 125 

Looked with pride upon the beauty 

Of his tall and graceful figure. 

Saying, " my Hiawatha ! 

Is there arry thing can harm you ? 

Anything yon are afraid of ? " 130 

But the wary Hiawatha 
Paused awhile, as if uncertain. 
Held his peace, a^ if resolving, 
And then answered, " There is nothing, 
Nothing but the bulrush yonder, 135 

Kothing but the great Apukwa ! " 

And as Mudjekeewis, rising, 
Stretched his hand to pluck the bulrush, 
Hiawatha cried in terror. 

Cried in well-dissembled terror, 140 

" Kago ! kago ! do not touch it ! " 
^'Ah, kaween ! " said Mudjekeewis, 
" No indeed, I will not touch it ! " 

Then they talked of other matters ; 
Pirst of Hiawatha's brothers, 145 

Mrst of Wabun, of the East-Wind, 
Of the South-Wind, Shawondasee, 
Of the North, Kabibonokka ; 
Then of Hiawatha's mother, 



HIAWATHA AND MUDJEKEEWIS 41 

Of the beautiful Wenonali, 150 

Of her birth upon the meadow, 
Of her death, as old Nokomis 
Had remembered and related. 

And he cried, " Mudjekeewis, 
It was you who killed Wenonah, 155 

Took her young life and her beauty. 
Broke the Lily of the Prairie, 
Trampled it beneath your footsteps ; 
"You confess it ! you confess it ! " 
And the mighty Mudjekeewis 160 

Tossed upon the wind his tresses. 
Bowed his hoary head in anguish, 
With a silent nod assented. 

Then up started Hiawatha, 
And with threatening look and gesture 16- 

Laid his hand upon the black rock. 
On the fatal Wawbeek laid it. 
With his mittens, Minjekahwun, 
Eent the jutting crag asunder, 
Smote and crushed it into fragments, 170 

Hurled them madly at his father. 
The remorseful Mudjekeewis, 
For his heart was hot within him. 
Like a living coal his heart was. 

But the ruler of the West-Wind 17? 



42 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Blew the fragments backward from him, 
With the breathing of his nostrils, 
With the tempest of his anger. 
Blew them back at his assailant ; 
Seized the bulrush, the Apukwa, 
Dragged it with its roots and fibres 
From the margin of the meadow. 
From its ooze, the giant bulrush ; 
Long and loud laughed Hiawatha ! 

Then began the deadly conflict. 
Hand to hand among the mountains ; 
From his eyry screamed the eagle, 
The Keneu, the great war-eagle, 
Sat upon the crags around them. 
Wheeling, flapped his wings above them. 

Like a tall tree in the tempest 
Bent and lashed the giant bulrush ; 
And in masses huge and heavy 
Crashing, fell the fatal Wawbaek ; 
Till the earth shook with the tumult 
And confusion of the battle. 
And the air was full of shoutings, 
And the thunder of the mountains, 
Starting, answered, " Baim-wawa ! " 

Back retreated Mudjekeewis, 
Bushinar westward o'er the mountains, 



HIAWATHA AND MUDJEKEEWIS 43 

Stumbling westward down the mountains, 

Three whole days retreated fighting, 

Still pursued by Hiawatha 

To the door-ways of the West- Wind, 205 

To the portals of the Sunset, 

To the earth's remotest border. 

Where into the empty spaces 

Sinks the sun, as a flamingo 

Drops into her nest at nightfall, 210 

In the melancholy marshes. 

" Hold ! " at length cried Mudjekeewis, 

" Hold, my son, my Hiawatha ! 

'T is impossible to kill me. 

For you cannot kill the immortal. 215 

I have put you to this trial, 

But to know and prove your courage ; 

Now receive the prize of valor ! 

" Go back to your home and people, 
Live among them, toil among them, 220 

Cleanse the earth from all that harms it. 
Clear the fishing-grounds and rivers, 
Slay all monsters and magicians, 
All the Wendjgoes, the giants. 
All the serpents, the Kenabeeks, 225 

As I slew the Mishe-Mokwa, 
Slew the Great Bear of the mountains. 



44 THE SONG OF HIAW-ATHA 

" And at last when Death draws near you, 
When the awful eyes of Pauguk 
Glare upon you in the darkness, 
I will share my kingdom with you, 
E-uler shall you be thenceforward 
Of the Northwest-Wind, Keewaydin, 
Of the home-wind, the Keewaydin." 

Thus was fought that famous battle 
In the dreadful days of Shah-shah, 
In the long days since departed, 
In the kingdom of the West-Wind. 
Still the hunter sees its traces 
Scattered far o'er hill and valle}^ ; 
Sees the giant bulrush growing 
By the ponds and water-courses. 
Sees the masses of the Wawbeek 
Lying still in every valley. 

Homeward now went Hiawatha ; 
Pleasant was the landscape round him. 
Pleasant was the air above him, 
Por the bitterness of- anger 
Had departed wholly from him, 
From his brain the thought of vengeance. 
Prom his heart the burning fever. 

Only once his pace he slackened, 
Only once he paused or halted, 



HIAWATHA AND MUDJEKEEWIS 45 

Paused to purchase heads of arrows 

Of the ancient Arrow-maker, 255 

In the land of the Dacotahs, 

Where the Falls of Minnehaha 

Flash and gleam among the oak-trees, 

Laugh and leap into the valley. 

There the ancient Arrow-maker 260 

Made his arrow-heads of sandstone, 
Arrow-heads of chalcedony, 
Arrow-heads of flint and jasper, 
Smoothed and sharpened at the edges. 
Hard and polished, keen and costly. 265 

With him dwelt his dark-eyed daughter. 
Wayward as the Minnehaha, 
With her moods of shade and sunshine. 
Eyes that smiled and frowned alternate, 
Feet as rapid as the river, 270 

Tresses flowing like the water. 
And as musical a laughter ; 
And he named her from the river, 
From the water-fall he named her, 
Minnehaha, Laughing Water. 275 

Was it then for heads of arrows, 
AiTOw-heads of chalcedony, 
Arrow-heads of flint and jasper. 
That my Hiawatha halted 



46 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

In the land of the Dacotahs ? 280 

Was it not to see the maiden, 
See the face of Laughing Water, 
Peeping from behind the curtain, 
Hear the rustling of her garments 
From behind the waving curtain, 285 

As one sees the Minnehaha 
Gleaming, glancing through the branches. 
As one hears the Laughing Water 
From behind its screen of branches ? 

Who shall say what thoughts and visions 290 
Fill the fiery brains of young men ? 
Who shall say what dreams of beauty 
Filled the heart of Hiawatha ? 
All he told to old Nokomis, 
When he reached the lodge at sunset, 295 

Was the meeting with his father. 
Was his fight with Mudjekeewis ; 
Not a word he said of arrows, 
Not a word of Laughing Water. 



Hiawatha's fasting 

You shall hear how Hiawatha 
Prayed and fasted in the forest, 
Not for greater skill in hunting, 
Not for greater craft in fishing, 
Not for triumphs in the battle. 
And renown among the warriors, 
But for profit of the people, 
For advantage of the nations. 

First he built a lodge for fasting. 
Built a wigwam in the forest. 
By the shining Big-Sea-Water, 
In the blithe and pleasant Springtime, 
In the Moon of Leaves he built it. 
And, with dreams and visions many. 
Seven whole days and nights he fasted. 

On the first day of his fasting 
Through the leafy woods he wandered ; 
Saw the deer start from the thicket. 
Saw the rabbit in his burrow, 
47 



48 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Heard the pheasant, Bena, clrunimiDg, 20 

Heard the squirrel, Adjidaumo, 

Rattling in his hoard of acorns, 

Saw the pigeon, the Omeme, 

Building nests among the pine-trees, 

And in flocks the wild goose, Wawa, 25 

Flying to the fen-lands northward, 

Whirring, wailing far above him. 

" Master of Life ! " he cried, desponding, 

" Must our lives depend on these things ? " 

On the next day of his fasting 30 

By the river's bank he wandered, 
Through the Muskoday, the meadow. 
Saw the wild rice, Mahnomonee, 
Saw the blueberry, Meenahga, 
And the strawberry, Odahmin, 35 

And the gooseberry, Shahbomin, 
And the grape-vine, the Bemahgut, 
Trailing o'er the alder-branches, 
Filling all the air with fragrance ! 
" Master of Life ! " he cried, desponding, 40 

"Must our lives depend on these things ? " 

On the third day of his fasting 
By the lake he sat and pondered. 
By the still, transparent water ; 
Saw the sturgeon, Nahma, leaping, 45 



HIAWATHA'S FASTING 49 

Scattering drops like beads of wampum, 

Saw the yellow perch, the Sahwa, 

Like a sunbeam in the water, 

Saw the pike, the Maskenozha, 

And the herring, Okahahwis, 50 

And the Shawgashee, the craw-fish. 

"Master of Life ! " he cried, desponding, 

" Must our lives depend on these things ? " 

On the fourth day of his fasting 
In his lodge he lay exhausted ; 55 

From his couch of leaves and branches 
Gazing with half-open eyelids. 
Full of shadowy dreams and visions, 
On the dizzy, swimming landscape. 
On the gleaming of the water, 60 

On the splendor of the sunset. 

And he saw a youth approaching. 
Dressed in garments green and yellow^ 
Coming through the purple twilight. 
Through the splendor of the sunset ; 65 

Plumes of green bent o'er his forehead, 
And his hair was soft and golden. 

Standing at the open doorway, 
Long he looked at Hiawatha, 
Looked with pity and compassion 70 

On his wasted form and features, 



50 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

And, in accents like the sighing 
Of the South- Wind in the tree-tops, 
Said he, " my Hiawatha ! 
All your prayers are heard in heaven, 
Eor you pray not like the others ; 
Not for greater skill in hunting, 
Not for greater craft in fishing, 
Kot for triumph in the battle, 
Nor renown among the warriors. 
But for profit of the people, 
For advantage of the nations. 

" From the Master of Life descending, 
I, the friend of man, Mondamin, 
Come to warn you and instruct you. 
How by struggle and by labor 
You shall gain what you have prayed for. 
Eise up from your bed of branches, 
Eise, youth, and wrestle with me ! " 

Faint with famine, Hiawatha 
Started from his bed of branches. 
From the twilight of his wigwam 
Forth into the flush of sunset. 
Came, and wrestled with Mondamin ; 
At his touch he felt new courage 
-Throbbing in his brain and bosom. 
Felt new life and hope and vigor 



HIAWATHA'S FASTING 51 

Run tliroiigli every nerve and fibre. 

So tliey wrestled there together 
In the glory of the sunset, loo 

And the more they strove and struggled, 
Stronger still grew Hiawatha, 
Till the darkness fell around them, 
And the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah, 
From her haunts among the fen-lands, 105 

Gave a cry of lamentation. 
Gave a scream of pain and famine. 

" 'T is enough ! " then said Mondamin, 
Smiling upon Hiawatha, 

"But to-morrow when the sun sets, no 

I will come again to try yon." 
And he vanished, and was seen not ; 
Whether sinking as the rain sinks, 
Whether rising as the mists rise, 
Hiawatha saw not, knew not, 115 

Only saw that he had vanished. 
Leaving him alone and fainting, 
With the misty lake below him. 
And the reeling stars above him. 

On the morrow and the next day, 120 

When the sun through heaven descending, 
Like a red and burning cinder 
From the hearth of the Great Spirit, 



52 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Fell into the western waters. 
Came Mondamin for the trial, 
For the strife with Hiawatha ; 
Came as silent as the dew comes, 
From the empty air appearing, 
Into empty air returning. 
Taking shape when earth it touches, 
But invisible to all men 
In its coming and its going. 

Thrice they wrestled there together 
In the glory of the sunset, 
Till the darkness fell around them, 
Till the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah, 
From her haunts among the fen-lands, 
Uttered her loud cry of famine. 
And Mondamin paused to listen. 

Tall and beautiful he stood there, 
In his garments green and yellow ; 
To and fro his plumes above him 
Waved and nodded with his breathing. 
And the sweat ,of the encounter 
Stood like drops of dew upon him. 

And he cried, " Hiawatha ! 
Bravely have you wrestled with me. 
Thrice have wrestled stoutly with me. 
And the Master of Life, who sees us. 



HIAWATHA^ S FASTING 53 

He will give to yon the triumph ! " 150 

Then he smiled, and said : "To-morrow 

Is the last day of your conflict, 

Is the last day of your fasting. 

You will conquer and o'ercome me ; 

Make a bed for me to lie in, 155 

Where the rain may fall upon me, 

Where the sun may come and warm me ; 

Strip these garments, green and yellow. 

Strip this nodding plumage from me. 

Lay me in the earth, and make it 160 

Soft and loose and light above me. 
" Let no hand disturb my slumber. 

Let no weed nor worm molest me. 

Let not Kahgahgee, the raven, 

Come to haunt me and molest me, 165 

Only come yourself to watch me. 

Till I wake, and start and quicken. 

Till I leap into the sunshine." 
And thus saying, he departed ; 

Peacefully slept Hiawatha, 170 

But he heard the Wawonaissa, 

Heard the whippoorwill complaining. 

Perched upon his lonely wigwam ; 

Heard the rushing Sebowisha, 

Heard the rivulet rippling near him, 175 



54 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Talking to the darksome forest ; 

Heard the sighing of the branches, 

As they lifted and subsided 

At the passing of the night-wind, 

Heard them, as one hears in slumber i8o 

Far-off murmurs, dreamy whispers : 

Peacefully slept Hiawatha. 

On the morrow came Nokomis, 
On the seventh day of his fasting. 
Came with food for Hiawatha, 185 

Came imploring and bewailing. 
Lest his hunger should o'ercome him, 
Lest his fasting should be fatal. 

But he tasted not, and touched not. 
Only said to her, " Nokomis, 190 

Wait until the sun is setting. 
Till the darkness falls around us, 
Till the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah, 
Crying from the desolate marshes, 
■ Tells us that the day is ended.'' 195 

Homeward weeping went Nokomis, 
Sorrowing for her Hiawatha, 
Fearing lest his strength should fail him, 
Lest his fasting should be fatal. 
He meanwhile sat weary waiting 200 

For the coming of Mondamin, 



HIAWATHA'S FASTING 55 

Till the shadows, pointing eastward, 
Lengthened over field and forest, 
Till the sun dropped from the heaven, 
Floating on the waters westward, 205 

As a red leaf in the Autumn 
Falls and floats upon the water, 
Falls and sinks into its bosom. 

And behold ! the young Mondamin, 
With his soft and shining tresses, 210 

"With his garments green and yellow, 
With his long and glossy x^lumage. 
Stood and beckoned at the doorway. 
And as one in slumber walking, 
Pale and haggard, but undaunted, 215 

From the wigwam Hiawatha 
Came and wrestled with Mondamin. 

Eound about him spun the landscape, 
Sky and forest reeled together. 
And his strong heart leaped within him, 220 
As the sturgeon leaps and struggles 
In a net to break its meshes. 
Like a ring of fire around him 
Blazed and flared the red horizon. 
And a hundred suns seemed looking 225 

At the combat of the wrestlers. 

Suddenly upon the greensward 



56 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

All alone stood Hiawatha, 

Panting with his wild exertion, 

Palpitating with the struggle ; 23-3 

And before him, breathless, lifeless, 

Lay the youth, with hair dishevelled, 

Plumage torn, and garments tattered, 

Dead he lay there in the sunset. 

And victorious Hiawatha 235 

Made the grave as he commanded. 
Stripped the garments from Mondamin, 
Stripped his tattered plumage from him. 
Laid him in the earth and made it 
Soft and loose and light above him ; 240 

And the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah, 
From the melancholy moorlands. 
Gave a cry of lamentation. 
Gave a cry of pain and anguish ! 

Homeward then went Hiawatha 245 

To the lodge of old ISTokomis, 
And the seven days of his fasting 
_Were accomplished and completed. 
But the place was not forgotten 
Where he wrestled with Mondamin ; 250 

Nor forgotten nor neglected 
Was the grave where lay Mondamin, 
Sleeping in the rain and sunshine. 



HIAWATHA'S FASTING 57 

AVhere his scattered plumes and garments 
Faded in the rain and sunshine. 255 

Day by day did Hiawatha 
Go to wait and watch beside it ; 
Kept the dark mould soft above it, 
Kept it clean from weeds and insects, 
Drove away with scoffs and shoutings, 260 

Kahgahgee, the king of ravens. 

Till at length a small green feather 
From the earth shot slowly upward, 
Then another and another, 
And before the Summer ended 265 

Stood the maize in all its beauty, 
With its shining robes about it. 
And its long, soft, yellow tresses ; 
And in rapture Hiawatha 

Cried aloud, " It is Mondamin ! 270 

Yes, the friend of man, Mondamin ! " 

Then he called to old Nokomis 
And lagoo, the great boaster, 
Showed them where the maize was growing. 
Told them of his wondrous vision, 275 

Of his wrestling and his triumph. 
Of this new gift to the nations. 
Which should be their food forever. 

And still later, when the Autumn 



58 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Changed the long green leaves to yellow 2S0 
And the sofc and juicy kernels 
Grew like wampum hard and yellow, 
Then the ripened ears he gathered, 
Stripped the withered husks from off them, 
As he once had stripped the wrestler^ 285 

Gave the first feast of Mondamin, 
And made known unto the people 
This new gift of the Great Spirit. 



VI 

Hiawatha's friends 

Two good friends had Hiawatha, 

Singled out from all the others, 

Bound to him in closest union, 

And to whom he gave the right hand 

Of his heart in joy and sorrow; 

Chibiabos, the musician, 

And the very strong man, Kwasind. 

Straight between them ran the pathway, 
Never grew the grass upon it ; 
Singing birds, that utter falsehoods, 
Story-tellers, mischief-makers. 
Found no eager ear to listen. 
Could not breed ill-will between them, 
For they kept each other's counsel, 
Spake with naked hearts together, 
Pondering much and much contriving 
How the tribes of men might prosper. 

Most beloved by Hiawatha 
Was the gentle Chibiabos, 
59 



60 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

He the best of all musicians, 
He the sweetest of all singers. 
Beautiful and childlike was he, 
Brave as man is, soft as woman, 
Pliant as a wand of willow, 
Stately as a deer with antlers. 

When he sang, the village listened ; 
All the warriors gathered round him. 
All the women came to hear him ; 
Now he stirred their souls to passion, 
Now he melted them to pity. 

From, the hollow reeds he fashioned 
Flutes so musical and mellow. 
That the brook, the Sebowisha, 
Ceased to murmur iii the woodland, 
That the wood-birds ceased from singing, 
And the squirrel, Adjidanmo, 
Ceased his chatter in th« oak-tree. 
And the rabbit, the Wabasso, 
Sat upright to look and listen. 

Yes, the brook, the Sebowisha, 
Pausing, said, " Chibiabos, 
Teach my waves to flow in music. 
Softly as your words in singing ! " 

Yes, the bluebird, the Owaissa, 
Envious, said, ^' Chibiabos, 



HIAWATHA^ S FRIENDS ' 61 

Teach me tones as wild and wayward; 
Teach me songs as full of frenzy !" 

Yes, the robin, the Opechee, 
Joyous, said, "0 Chibiabos, 
Teach me tones as sweet and tender, 50 

Teach me songs as full of gladness ! " 

And the whippoorwill, Wawonaissa, 
Sobbing, said, " Chibiabos, 
Teach me tones as melancholy. 
Teach me songs as full of sadness ! " 55 

All the many sounds of nature 
Borrowed sweetness from his singing; 
All the hearts of men were softened 
By the pathos of his music ; 
For he sang of peace and freedom, 60 

Sang of beauty, love, and longing, 
Sang of death, and life undying 
In the islands of the Blessed, 
In the kingdom of Ponemah, 
In the land of the Hereafter. 63 

Very dear to Hiawatha 
Was the gentle Chibiabos, 
He the best of all musicians. 
He the sweetest of all singers ; 
For his gentleness he loved him, 70 

And the magic of his singing. 



62 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Dear, too, unto Hiawatha 
Was the very strong man, Kwasind, 
He the strongest of all mortals, 
He the mightiest among many ; 
For his very strength he loved him, 
For his strength allied to goodness. 

Idle in his youth was Kwasind, 
Very listless, dull, and dreamy, 
Never played with other children, 
Never fished and never hunted. 
Not like other children was he ; 
Eut they saw that much he fasted. 
Much his Manito entreated. 
Much besought his Guardian Spirit. 
" Lazy Kwasind ! " said his mother, 
" In my work you never help me ! 
In the Summer you are roaming 
Idly in the fields and forests ; 
In the Winter you are cowering 
O'er the firebrands in the wigwam ! 
In the coldest days of Winter 
I must break the ice for fishing ; 
With my nets you never help me ! 
At the door my nets are hanging, 
Dripping, freezing with the water ; 
Go and wring them, Yenadizze ! 



HIAWATHA'S F FIENDS 63 

Go and dry them in the sunshine ! " 

Slowly, from the ashes, Kwasind 
Rose, but made no angry answer ; loo 

From the lodge went forth in silence, 
Took the nets that hung together, 
Dripping, freezing at the doorway. 
Like a wisp of straw he wrung them, 
Like a wisp of straw he broke them, 105 

Could not wring them without breaking. 
Such the strength was in his fingers. 
" Lazy Kwasind ! " said his father, 
" In the hunt you never help me ; 
Every bow you touch is broken, no 

Snapped asunder every arrow ; 
Yet come with me to the forest. 
You shall bring the hunting homeward," 

Down a narrow pass they wandered, 
Where a brooklet led them onward, 115 

Where the trail of deer and bison 
Marked the soft mud on the margin, 
Till they found all further passage 
Shut against them, barred securely 
By the trunks of trees uprooted, 120 

Lying lengthwise, lying crosswise. 
And forbidding further passage. 

" We must go back," said the old man, 



64 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

" O'er these logs we cannot clamber ; 

Not a woodchuck could get through them, 125 

Not a squirrel clamber o'er them ! " 

And straightway his pipe he lighted, 

And sat down to smoke and ponder. 

But before his pipe was finished, 

Lo ! the path was cleared before him ; 130 

All the trunks had Kwasind lifted, 

To the right hand, to the left hand. 

Shot the pine-trees swift as arrows. 

Hurled the cedars light as lances. 

" Lazy Kwasind ! " said the young men, 135 
As they sported in the meadow : 
" AVhy stand idly looking at us. 
Leaning on the rock behind you ? 
Come and wrestle with the others. 
Let us pitch the quoit together ! " 140 

Lazy Kwasind made no answer. 
To their challenge made no answer, 
Only rose, and, slowly turning. 
Seized the huge rock in his fingers. 
Tore it from its deep foundation, 145 

Poised it in the air a moment. 
Pitched it sheer into the river. 
Sheer into the swift Pauwating, 
Where it still is seen in Summer. 

Once as down that foaming river, 150 



HIAWATHA'S FRIENDS 65 

Down the rapids of Pauwating, 
Kwasind sailed with his companions, 
In the stream he saw a beaver, 
Saw Ahmeek, the King of Beavers, 
Struggling with the rushing currents, 155 

Rising, sinking in the water. 

Without speaking, without pausing, 
Kwasind leaped into the river. 
Plunged beneath the bubbling surface, 
Through the whirlpools chased the beaver, 160 
Followed him among the islands. 
Stayed so long beneath the water. 
That his terrified companions 
Cried, " Alas ! good-by to Kwasind ! 
We shall never more see Kwasind ! " 165 

But he reappeared triumphant. 
And upon his shining shoulders 
Brought the beaver, dead and dripping. 
Brought the King of all the Beavers. 

And these two, as I have told you, 170 

Were the friends of Hiawatha, 
Chibiabos, the musician. 
And the very strong man, Kwasind. 
Long they lived in peace together. 
Spake with naked hearts together, 175 

Pondering much and much contriving 
How the tribes of men might prosper. 



yii 

Hiawatha's sailing 

" Give me of your bark, Birch-Tree ! 
Of your yellow bark, Birch-Tree ! 
Growing by the rushing river, 
Tall and stately in the valley ! 
I a light canoe will build nie, 
Build a swift Cheemaun for sailing, 
That shall float upon the river, 
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn, 
Like a yellow water-lily ! 

" Lay aside your cloak, Birch-Tree ! 
Lay aside your white-skin wrapper, 
For the Summer-time is coming. 
And the sun is warm in heaven. 
And you need no white-skin wrapper ! " 

Thus aloud cried Hiawatha 
In the solitary forest. 
By the rushing Taquamenaw, 
When the birds were singing gayly, 
In the Moon of Leaves were singing, 



HIAWATHA'S SAILING ^1 

And the sun, from sleep awaking, 20 

Started up and said, " Behold me ! 
Geezis, the great Sun, behold me ! " 

And the tree with all its branches 
Rustled in the breeze of morning. 
Saying, with a sigh of patience, 25 

" Take my cloak, Hiawatha ! " 

With his knife the tree he girdled ; 
Just beneath its lowest branches, * 

Just above the roots, he cut it, 
Till the sap came oozing outward ; 30 

Down the trunk, from top to bottom. 
Sheer he cleft the bark asunder. 
With a wooden wedge he raised it, 
Stripped it from the trunk unbroken. 

"Grive me of your boughs, Cedar ! 35 

Of your strong and pliant branches. 
My canoe to ;nake more steady, 
Make more strong and firm beneath me ! " 

Through the summit of the Cedar 
Went a sound, a cry of horror, 40 

Went a murmur of resistance ; 
But it whispered, bending downward, 
" Take my boughs, Hiawatha ! " 

Down he hewed the boughs of cedar. 
Shaped them straightway to a framework, 45 



68 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Like two bows lie formed and shaped them, 
Like two bended bows together. 

" Give me of your roots, Tamarack ! 
Of your fibrous roots, Larch-Tree ! 
My canoe to bind together. 
So to bind the ends together 
That the water may not enter, 
That the river may not wet me-! " 

And the larch with all its fibres, 
Shivered in the air of morning. 
Touched his forehead with its tassels, 
Said, with one long sigh of sorrow, 
"Take them all, Hiawatha ! " 

From the earth he tore the fibres, 
Tore the tough roots of the Larch-Tree, 
Closely sewed the bark together. 
Bound it closely to the framework. 

" Give me of your balm, Q Fir-Tree ! 
Of your balsam and your resin, 
So to close the seams together 
That the water may not enter. 
That the river may not wet me ! '' 

And the Fir-Tree, tall and sombre. 
Sobbed through all its robes of darkness, 
Rattled like a shore with pebbles. 
Answered wailing, answered weeping, 



HIAWATHA'S SAILING 69 

" Take my balm, Hiawatha ! " 

And he took the tears of balsam, 
Took the resin of the Pir-Tree, 
Smeared therewith each seam and fissure, 75 
Made each crevice safe from water. 

" Give me of your quills, Hedgehog ! 
All your quills, Kagh, the Hedgehog ! 
I will make a necklace of them, 
Make a girdle for my beauty, 80 

And two stars to deck her bosom ! " 

From the hollow tree the Hedgehog 
With his sleepy eyes looked at him, 
Shot his shining quills, like arrows. 
Saying, with a drowsy murmur, 85 

Through the tangle of his whiskers, 
'^ Take my quills, Hiawatha ! " 

From the ground the quills he gathered, 
All the little shining arrows. 
Stained them red and blue and yellow, 90 

With the juice of roots and berries ; 
Into his canoe he wrought them, 
Round its waist a shining girdle, 
Round its bows a gleaming necklace, 
On its breast two stars resplendent. 95 

Thus the Birch Canoe was builded 
In the valley by the river. 



70 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

In the bosom of the forest ; 
And the forest's life was in it, 
All its mystery and its magic, 
All the lightness of the birch-tree, 
All the toughness of the cedar, 
All the larch's supple sinews ; 
And it floated on the river 
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn, 
Like a yellow water-lily. 

Paddles none had Hiawatha, 
Paddles none he had or needed, 
For his thoughts as paddles served him, 
And his wishes served to guide him ; 
Swift or slow at will he glided. 
Veered to right or left at pleasure. 

Then he called aloud to Kwasind, 
To his friend, the strong man, Kwasind, 
Saying, " Help me clear this river 
Of its sunken logs and sand-bars." 

Straight into the^ river Kwasind 
Plunged as if he were an otter. 
Dived as if he were a beaver, 
Stood up to his waist in water, 
To his arm-pits in the river. 
Swam and shouted in the river, 
Tugged at sunken logs and branches, 



HIAWATHA'S SAILING 71 

With, his hands he scooped the sand-bars, 
With his feet the ooze and tangle. 125 

And thus sailed my Hiawatha 
Down the rushing Taquamenaw, 
Sailed through all its bends and windings, 
Sailed through all its deeps and shallows, 
While his friend, the strong man, Kwasind, 130 
Swam the deeps, the shallows waded. 

Up and down the river went they, 
In and out among the islands, 
Cleared its bed of root and sand-bar. 
Dragged the dead trees from its channel, 135 
Made its passage safe and certain, 
Made a pathway for the people. 
From its springs among the mountains, 
To the water of Pauwating, 
To the bay of Taquamenaw. 140 



VIII 

Hiawatha's fishing 

Forth -upon the Gitche Gumee, 
On the shining Big-Sea-Water, 
With his fishing-line of cedar, 
Of the twisted bark of cedar, 
Eorth to catch the sturgeon Nahma, 
Mishe-Nahma, King of Fishes, 
In his birch canoe exnlting 
All alone went Hiawatha. 

Through the clear, transparent water 
He could see the fishes swimming 
Far down in the depths below him ; 
See the yellow perch, the Sahwa, 
Like a sunbeam in the water, 
See the Shawgashee, the craw-fish, 
Like a spider on the bottom. 
On the white and sandy bottom. 

At the stern sat Hiawatha, 
With his fishing-line of cedar ; 
In his plumes the breeze of morning 
72 



HIAWATHA'S FISHING 73 

Played as in the hemlock branches ; 20 

On the bows, with tail erected, 
Sat the squirrel, Adjidaumo; 
In his fur the breeze of morning 
Played as in the prairie grasses. 

On the white sand of the bottom 25 

Lay the monster Mishe-Nahma, 
Lay the sturgeon, King of Fishes ; 
Through his gills he breathed the water 
With his fins he fanned and winnowed, 
With his tail he swept the sand-floor. 30 

There he lay in all his armor ; 
On each side a shield to guard him, 
Plates of bone upon his forehead, 
Down his sides and back and shoulders 
Plates of bone, with spines projecting ! 35 

Painted was he with his war-paints, 
Stripes of yellow, red, and azure, 
Spots of brown and spots of sable ; 
And he lay there on the bottom. 
Fanning with his fins of purple, 40 

As above him Hiawatha 
Li his birch canoe came sailing, 
With his fishing-line of cedar. 

" Take my bait," cried Hiawatha, 
Down into the depths beneath him, 45 



74 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

" Take my bait, Sturgeon, Nahma ! 
Come up from below the water, 
Let us see which is the stronger ! " 
And he dropped his line of cedar 
Through the clear, transparent water, 
Waited vainly for an answer. 
Long sat waiting for an answer. 
And repeating loud and louder, 
" Take my bait, King of Fishes ! " 

Quiet lay the sturgeon, Nahma, 
Fanning slowly in the water, 
Looking up at Hiawatha, 
Listening to his call and clamor. 
His unnecessary tumult. 
Till he wearied of the shouting ; 
And^he said to the Kenozha, 
To the pike, the Maskenozha, 
" Take the bait of this rude fellow, 
Break the line of Hiawatha ! " 
In his fingers Hiawatha 
Felt the loose line jerk and tighten; 
As he drew it in, he tugged so 
That the birch canoe stood endwise, 
Like a birch log in the water. 
With the squirrel,' Adjidaumo, 
Perched and frisking on the summit. 



HIAWATHA^ S FISHING 75 

Full of scorn was Hiawatha 
When ,he saw the fisli rise upward, 
Saw the pike, the Maskenozha, 
Coming nearer, nearer to him, 75 

And he shouted through the water, 
" Esa ! esa ! shame upon you ! 
You are but the pike, Kenozha, 
You are not the fish I wanted. 
You are not the King of Fishes ! " So 

Eeeling downward to the bottom 
Sank the pike in great confusion. 
And the mighty sturgeon, Nahma, 
Said to Ugudwash, the sun-fish, 
" Take the bait of this great boaster, 85 

Break the line of Hiawatha ! " 

Slowly upward, wavering, gleaming, 
Like a white moon in the water, 
Kose the Ugudwash, the sun-fish. 
Seized the line of Hiawatha, 90 

Swung with all his weight upon it, 
Made a whirlpool in the water. 
Whirled the birch canoe in circles, 
Eound and round in gurgling eddies, 
Till the circles in the water 95 

Beached the far-off sandy beaches. 
Till the water-flags and rushes 



76 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Nodded on the distant margins. 

But when Hiawatha saw him 
Slowly rising through the water, 
Lifting his great disk of whiteness, 
Loud he shouted in derision, 
" Esa ! esa ! shame upon you ! 
You are Ugudwash, the sun-fish, 
You are not the fish I wanted, 
You are not the King of Fishes ! " 
Slowly downward, wavering, gleaming, 
Sank the Ugudwash, the sun-fish, 
And again the sturgeon, Nahma, 
Heard the shout of Hiawatha, 
Heard his challenge of defiance, 
The unnecessary tumult. 
Ringing far across the water. 

From the white sand of the bottom 
Up he rose with angry gesture. 
Quivering in each nerve and fibre, 
Clashing all his plates of armor. 
Gleaming bright with all his war-paint ; 
Li his wrath he darted upward. 
Flashing leaped into the sunshine. 
Opened his greaf jaws, and swallowed 
Both canoe and Hiawatha. 

Down into that darksome cavern 



HIAWATHA'S FISHING 77 

Plunged the headlong Hiawatha, 
Asa log on some black river 125 

Shoots and plunges down the rapids, 
Found himself in utter darkness, 
Groped about in helpless wonder, 
■ Till he felt a great heart beating. 
Throbbing in that utter darkness. 130 

And he smote it in his anger, 
With his fist, the heart of Nahma. 
Felt the mighty King of Fishes 
Shudder through each nerve and fibre, 
Heard the water gurgle round him 135 

As he leaped and staggered through it, 
Sick at heart, and faint and weary. 

Crosswise then did Hiawatha 
Drag his birch-canoe for safety. 
Lest from out the jaws of Nahma, 140 

In the turmoil and confusion. 
Forth he might be hurled and perish. 
And the squirrel, Adjidaumo, 
Frisked and chatted very gayly. 
Toiled and tugged with Hiaw^atha 145 

Till the labor was completed. 

Then said Hiawatha to him, 
" my little friend, the squirrel, 
Bravely have you toiled to help me ; 



78 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Take the thanks of Hiawatha, 150 

And the name which now he gives you; 
For hereafter and forever 
Boys shall call you Adjidaumo, 
Tail-in-air the boys shall call you ! '' 

And again the sturgeon, Nahma, ly 

Gasped and quivered in the water, 
Then was still and drifted landward 
Till he grated on the pebbles, 
Till the listening Hiawatha 
Heard him grate upon the margin, 160 

Felt him strand upon the pebbles, 
Knew that Nahma, King of Fishes, 
Lay there dead upon the margin. 

Then he heard a clang and flapping. 
As of many wings assembling, 165 

Heard a screaming and confusion. 
As of birds of prey contending, 
Saw a gleam of light above him. 
Shining through the ribs of N ahma, 
Saw the glittering eyes of sea-gulls, 170 

Of Kayoshk, the sea-gulls, peering, 
Gazing at him through the opening. 
Heard them saying to each other, 
" 'T is our brother, Hiawatha ! " 

And he shouted from below them, 175 



HIAWATHA'S FISHING 79 

Cried exulting from the caverns : 

" ye sea-gulls ! my brothers ! 

I have slain the sturgeon, Nahma ; 

Make the rifts a little larger, 

With your claws the openings widen, i8o 

Set me free from this dark prison. 

And henceforward and forever 

Men shall speak of your achievements. 

Calling you Kayoshk, the sea-gulls. 

Yes, Kayoshk, the Noble Scratchers ! " 185 

And the wild and clamorous sea-gulls 
Toiled with beak and claws together, 
Made the rifts and openings wider 
In the mighty ribs of Nahma, 
And from peril and from prison, 190 

From the body of the sturgeon. 
From the peril of the water. 
They released my Hiawatha. 

He was standing near his wigwam, 
On the margin of the water, 195 

And he called to old ISTokomis, 
Called and beckoned to Nokomis, 
Pointed to the sturgeon, Nahma, 
Lying lifeless on the pebbles, 
With the sea-gulls feeding on him. 200 

" I have slain the Mishe-Nahma, 



80 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Slain the King of Fishes ! " said he ; 

" Look ! the sea-gulls feed upon him, 

Yes, my friends Kayoshk, the sea-gulls ; 

Drive them not away, Nokomis, 205 

They have saved me from great peril 

In the body of the sturgeon. 

Wait until their meal is ended, 

Till their craws are full with feasting*, 

Till they homeward fly at sunset, 210 

To their nests among the marshes ; 

Then bring all your pots and kettles, 

And make oil for us in Winter.'' 

And she waited till the sun set. 
Till the pallid moon, the Night-sun, 215 

Rose above the tranquil water, 
Till Kayoshk, the sated sea-gulls, 
From their banquet rose with clamor. 
And across the fiery sunset 
Winged their way to far-off islands, 220 

To their nests among the rushes. 

To his sleep went Hiawatha, 
' And Nokomis to her labor, 
Toiling patient in the moonlight, 
Till the sun and moon changed places. 
Till the sky was red with sun-rise. 
And Kayoshk, the hungry sea-gulls, 



HIAWATHA^ S FISHING 81 

Came back from the reedy islands, 
Clamorous for their morning banquet. 

Three whole days and nights alternate 230 
Old Nokomis and the sea-gulls 
Stripped the oily flesh of Nahma. 
Till the waves washed through the rib-bones, 
Till the sea-gulls came no longer, 
And upon the sands lay nothing 235 

But the skeleton of Nahma. 



IX 

HIAWATHA AND THE PEARL-FEATHER 

On the shores of G-itche Gumee, 
Of the shining Big-Sea-Water, 
Stood Nokomis, the old woman, 
Pointing with her finger westward, 
O'er the water pointing westward 
To the purple clouds of sunset. 

Fiercely the red sun descending 
Burned his way along the heavens, 
Set the sky on fire behind him. 
As war-parties, when retreating. 
Burn the prairies on their war-trail ; 
And the moon, the Night-sun, eastward, 
Suddenly starting from his ambush. 
Followed fast those bloody footprints. 
Followed in that fiery war-trail, 
With its glare upon his features. 

And Nokomis, the old woman. 
Pointing with her finger westward, 
Spake these words to Hiawatha ; 



HIAWATHA AND THE PEARL-FEATHER 83 

" Yonder dwells the great Pearl-Feather, 20 

Megissogwon, the Magician, 

Manito of Wealth and Wampum, 

Guarded by his fiery serpents, 

Guarded by the black pitch-water. 

You can see his fiery serpents, 25 

The Kenabeek, the great serpents. 

Coiling, playing in the water ; 

You can see the black pitch-water 

Stretching far away beyond them. 

To the purple clouds of sunset ! 30 

"He it was who slew my father. 
By his wicked wiles and cunning. 
When he from the moon descended,. 
W^hen he came on earth to seek me. 
He, the mightiest of Magicians, 35 

Sends the fever from the marshes, 
Sends the pestilential vapors. 
Sends the poisonous exhalations. 
Sends the white fog from the fen-lands, 
Sends disease and death among us ! 40 

" Take your bow, Hiawatha, 
Take your arrows, jasper-headed. 
Take your war-club, Puggawaugun, 
And your mittens, Minjekahwun, 
And your birch-canoe for sailing, 45 



84 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

And the oil of Mishe-Nahma, 

So to smear its sides, that swiftly 

You may pass the black pitch-water ; 

Slay this merciless magician, 

Save the people from the fever 

That he breathes across the fen-lands, 

And avenge my father's murder ! " 

Straightway then my Hiawatha 
Armed himself with all his war-gear, 
Launched his birch-canoe for sailing ; 
With his palms its sides he patted. 
Said with glee, " Cheemaun, my darling, 
my Birch-Canoe ! leap forward. 
Where you see the fiery serpents, 
Where you see the black pitch-water ! " 

Forward leaped Cheemaun exulting, 
And the noble Hiawatha 
Sang his war-song wild and woful. 
And above him the war-eagle. 
The Keneu, the great war-eagle. 
Master of all fowls with feathers. 
Screamed and hurtled through the heavens. 

Soon he reached the fiery serpents. 
The Kenabeek, the great serpents. 
Lying huge upon the water, 
Sparkling, rippling in the water, 



HIAWATHA AND THE PEARL-FEATHER 85 

Lying coiled across the passage, 

With their blazing crests uplifted, 

Breathing fiery fogs and vapors, 

So that none could pass beyond them. 75 

But the fearless Hiawatha 
Cried aloud, and spake in this wise : 

"Let me pass my way, Kenabeek, 
Let me go upon my journey ! " 
And they answered, hissing fiercely, 80 

With their fiery breath made answer : 

" Back, go back ! Shaugodaya ! 
Back to old Nokomis, Faint-heart ! " 

Then the angry Hiawatha ■ 
Raised his mighty bow of ash-tree, 85 

Seized his arrows, jasper-headed, 
Shot them fast among the serpents ; 
Every twanging of the bow-string 
Was a war-cry and a death-cry. 
Every whizzing of an arrow 90 

Was a death-song of Kenabeek. 

Weltering in the bloody water, 
Dead lay all the fiery serpents, 
And among them Hiawatha 
Harmless sailed, and cried exulting : 95 

" Onward, Cheemaun, my darling ! 
Onward to the black pitch-water ! " 



86 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Then he took the oil of Nahma, 
And the bows and sides anointed, 
Smeared them well with oil, that swiftly loo 
He might pass the black pitch-water. 

All night long he sailed upon it, 
Sailed upon that sluggish water, 
Covered with its mould of ages. 
Black with rotting water-rushes, 105 

Eank with flags and leaves of lilies. 
Stagnant, lifeless, dreary, dismal, 
Lighted by the shimmering moonlight, 
And by will-o'-the-wisps illumined, 
Fires by ghosts of dead men kindled, no 

In their weary night-encampments. 

All the air was white with moonlight, 
All the water black with shadow. 
And around him the Suggema, 
The mosquito, sang his war-song, 115 

And the fire-flies, Wah-wah-taysee, 
Waved their torches to mislead him ; 
And the bull-frog, the Dahinda, 
Thrust his head into the moonlight. 
Fixed his yellow eyes upon him, 120 

Sobbed and sank beneath the surface ; 
And anon a thousand whistles, 
Answered over all the fen-lands; 



HIAWATHA AND THE PEARL-FEATHER 87 

And the heron, the Shuh-shnh-gah, 

Far off on the reedy margin, 125 

Heralded the hero's coming. 

Westward thus fared Hiawatha, 
Toward the realm of Megissogwon, 
Toward the land of the Pearl-Feather, 
Till the level moon stared at him, • 130 

In his face stared pale and haggard, 
Till the sun was hot behind him, 
Till it burned upon his shoulders. 
And before him on the npland 
He could see the Shining Wigwam 135 

Of the Manito of Wampum, 
Of the mightiest of Magicians. 

Then once more Cheemaun he patted. 
To his birch-canoe said " Onward^ " 
And it stirred in all its fibres, 140 

And with one great bound of triumph 
Leaped across the water-lilies. 
Leaped through "tangled flags and rushes, 
And upon the beach beyond them 
Dry-shod landed Hiawatha. 145 

Straight he took his bow of ash-tree, 
One end on the sand he rested, 
With his knee he pressed the middle, 
Stretched the faithful bow-string tighter, 



88 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Took an arrow, jasper-headed, 150 

Shot it at the Shining Wigwam, 

Sent it singing as a herald, 

As a bearer of his message, 

Of his challenge loud and lofty : 

" Come forth from your lodge, Pearl-Eeather ! 155 

Hiawatha waits your coming ! " 

Straightway from the Shining Wigwam 
Came the mighty Megissogwon, 
Tall of stature, broad of shoulder, 
Dark and terrible in aspect, 160 

Clad from head to foot in wampum. 
Armed with all his war-like weapons, 
Painted like the sky of morning, 
Streaked with crimson, blue, and yellow, 
Crested with great eagle feathers, 165 

Streaming upward, streaming outward. 

" Well I know you, Hiawatha ! " 
Cried he in a voice of thunder, ^ 
In a tone of loud derision. 
" Hasten back, Shaugodaya ! 170 

Hasten back among the women, 
Back to old Nokomis, Paint-heart 
I will slay you as you stand there, 
As of old I slew her father ! " 

But my Hiawatha answered, 175 



HIAWATHA AND THE PEARL-FE4'THEE 89 

Nothing daunted, fearing nothing : 

" Big words do not smite like war-clubs, 

Boastful breath is not a bow-string, 

Taunts are not so sharp as arrows, 

Deeds are better things than words are, 180 

Actions mightier than boastings ! " 

Then began the greatest battle 
That the sun had ever looked on. 
That the war-birds ever witnessed. 
All a summer's day it lasted, 185 

From the sunrise to the sunset ; 
For the shafts of Hiawatha 
Harmless hit the shirt of wampum. 
Harmless fell the blows he dealt it 
With his mittens, Minjekahwun, 190 

Harmless fell the heavy war-club ; 
It could dash the rocks asunder. 
But it could not break the meshes 
Of that magic shirt of wampum. 

Till at sunset Hiawatha, 195 

Leaning on his bow of ash-tree. 
Wounded, weary, and desponding. 
With his mighty war-club broken. 
With his mittens torn and tattered. 
And three useless arrows only, 200 

Paused to rest beneath a pine-tree. 



90 -THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

From whose branches trailed the mosses, 
And whose trunk was coated over 
With the Dead-man's Moccasin-leather, 
With the fungus white and yellow. 205 

Suddenly from the boughs above him 
Sang the Mama, the woodpecker : 
"Aim your arrows, Hiawatha, 
At the head of Megissogwon, 
Strike the tuft of hair upon it, 210 

At their roots the long black tresses ; 
There alone can he be wounded ! " 

Winged with feathers, tipped with jasper. 
Swift flew Hiawatha's arrow. 
Just as Megissogwon, stooping, 215 

Raised a heavy stone to throw it. 
Full upon the crown it struck him. 
At the roots of his long tresses. 
And he reeled and staggered forward, 
Plunging like a wounded bison, 220 

Yes, like Pezhekee, the bison. 
When the snow is on the prairie. 

Swifter flew the second arrow, 
In the pathway of the other. 
Piercing deeper than the other, 225 

Wounding sorer than the other, 
And the knees of Megissogwon 



HIAWATHA AND THE PEARL-FEATHER 91 

Shook like windy weeds beneath him, 
Bent and trembled like the rushes. 

But the third and latest arrow 230 

Swiftest flew and wounded sorest/ 
And the mighty Megissogwon 
Saw the fiery eyes of Pauguk, 
Saw the eyes of Death glare at him. 
Heard his voice call in the darkness ; 235 

At the feet of Hiawatha 
Lifeless lay the great Pearl-Feather, 
Lay the mightiest of Magicians. 

Then the grateful Hiawatha 
Called the Mama, the woodpecker, 240 

From his perch among the branches 
Of the melancholy pine-tree. 
And in honor of his service, 
Stained with blood the tuft of feathers, 
On the little head of Mama; 245 

Even to this day he wears it. 
Wears the tuft of crimson feathers. 
As a symbol of his service. 

Then he stripped the shirt of wampum 
From the back of Megissogwon, 250 

As a trophy of the battle. 
As a signal of his conquest. 
On the shore he left the body, 



92 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Half on land and half in water. 

In the sand his feet were buried, 255 

And his face was in the water. 

And above him, wheeled and clamored 

The Keneu, the great war-eagle, 

Sailing round in narrower circles, 

Hovering nearer, nearer, nearer. 260 

Prom the wigwam Hiawatha 
Bore the wealth of Megissogwon, 
All his wealth of skins and wampum, 
Eurs of bison and of beaver, 
Furs of sable and of ermine, 265 

Wampum belts and strings and pouches, 
Quivers wrought with beads of wampum, 
Filled with arrows, silver-headed. 

Homeward then he sailed exulting. 
Homeward through the black pitch-water, 270 
Homeward through the weltering serpents. 
With the trophies of the battle. 
With a shout and song of triumph. 

On the shore stood old Nokomis, 
On the shore stood Chibiabos, 275 

And the very strong man, Kwasind,' 
Waiting for the hero's coming, 
Listening to his song of triumph. 
And the people of the village 



HIAWATHA AND THE PEARL-FEATHER 93 

Welcomed him with songs and dances, 280 

Made a joyous feast and shouted: 

" Honor be to Hiawatha ! 

He has slain ihe great Pearl-Feather, 

Slain the mightiest of Magicians, 

Him, who sent the fiery fever, 285 

Sent the white fog from the fen-lands. 

Sent disease and death among us ! " 

Ever dear to Hiawatha 
Was the memory of Mama ! 
And in token of his friendship, 290 

As a mark of his remembrance. 
He adorned and decked his pipe-stem 
With the crimson tuft of feathers. 
With the blood-red crest of Mama. 
But the wealth of Megissogwon, 295 

All the trophies of the battle, 
He divided with his people. 
Shared it equally among them. 



X 

Hiawatha's wooing 

" As unto the bow the cord is. 

So unto the man is woman, 

Though she bends him, she obeys him, 

Though she draws him,, yet she follows, 

Useless each without the other ! " . 

Thus the youthful Hiawatha 
Said within himself and pondered. 
Much perplexed by various feelings. 
Listless, longing, hoping, fearing. 
Dreaming still of Minnehaha, 
Of the lovely Laughing Water, 
In the land of the Dacotahs. 
" Wed a maiden of your people,'' 
Warning said the old Nokomis ; 
" Go not eastward, go not westAvard, 
For a stranger, whom we know not ! 
Like a fire upon the hearth-stone 
Is a neighbor's homely daughter. 
Like the starlight or the nioonlight 
94 



HIAWATHA'S WOOINa 95 

Is the handsomest of strangers ! " 20 

Thus dissuading spake Nokomis, 

And my Hiawatha answered 

Only this : " Dear old Nokomis, 

Very pleasant is the firelight, 

But I like the starlight better, 25 • 

Better do I like the moonlight ! " 

Gravely then said old Nokomis ; 
" Bring not here an idle maiden, 
Bring not here a useless woman. 
Hands unskilful, feet unwilling; 30 

Bring a wife with nimble lingers. 
Heart and hand that move together, 
Feet that run on willing errands ! " 

Smiling answered Hiawatha : 
" In the land of the Dacotahs 35 

Lives the Arrow-maker's daughter, 
Minnehaha, Laughing Water, 
Handsomest of all the women. 
I will bring her to your wigwam, 
She shall run upon your errands, 40 

Be. your starlight, moonlight, firelight. 
Be the sunlight of my people ! " 

Still dissuading said Nokomis : 
" Bring not to my lodge a stranger 
Ji'rom the land of the Dacotahs ! ' 4^ 



96 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Very fierce are the Dacotahs, 
Often is there war between us, 
There are feuds yet unforgotten, 
Wounds that ache and still may open I " 

Laughing answered Hiawatha: 50 

"For that reason, if no other. 
Would I wed the fair Dacotah, 
That our tribes might be united. 
That old feuds might be forgotten, 
And old wounds be healed forever ! " 55 

Thus departed Hiawatha 
To the land of the Dacotahs, 
To the land of handsome women ; 
Striding over moor and meadow, 
Through interminable forests, 60 

Through uninterrupted silence. 

With his moccasins of magic. 
At each stride a mile he measured ; 
Yet the way seemed long before him. 
And his heart outran his footsteps ; 65 

And he journeyed without resting. 
Till he heard the cataract's thunder, 
Heard the Falls of Minnehaha, 
Calling to him through the silence. 
" Pleasant is the sound ! " he murmured, 70 

^^ Pleasant is the voice that calls me ! " 



HIAWATHA'S WOOING 97 

On the outskirts of the forest, 
'Twixt the shadow and the sunshine, 
Herds of fallow deer were feeding, 
But they saw not Hiaw^atha ; 75 

To his bow he whispered, " Fail not ! " 
To his arrow whispered, " Swerve not ! " 
Sent it singing on its errand, 
To the red heart of the roebnck ; 
Threw the deer across his shoulder, 80 

And sped forward without pausing. 

At the doorway of his wigwam 
Sat the ancient Arrow-maker, 
In the land of the Dacotahs, 
Making arrow-heads of jasper, 85 

Arrow-heads of chalcedony. 
At his side, in all her beauty, 
Sat the lovely Minnehaha, 
Sat his daughter. Laughing Water, 
Plaiting mats of flags and rushes ; 90 

Of the past the old man's thoughts were. 
And the maiden's of the future. 

He was thinking, as he sat there, 
Of the days when with such arrows. 
He had struck the deer and bison, 95 

On the Muskoday, the meadow ; 
Shot the wild goose, fl}^ng southward, 



THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

On the wing, the clamorous Wawa; 

Thinking of the great war-parties, 

How they came to buy his arrows, loo 

Could not fight without his arrows. 

Ah, no more such noble warriors 

Could be found on earth as they were ! 

Now the men were all like women, 

Only used their tongues for weapons ! 105 

She was thinking of a hunter, 
Prom another tribe and country. 
Young and tall and very handsome, 
Who one morning, in the Spring-time, 
Came to buy her -father's arrows, no 

Sat and rested in the wigwam. 
Lingered long about the doorway, 
Looking back as he departed. 
She had heard her father praise him. 
Praise his courage and his wisdom ; 115 

Would he come again for arrow^s 
To the Falls of Minnehaha ? 
On the mat her hands lay idle. 
And her eyes were very dreamy. 

Through their thoughts they heard a 

footstep, 120 

Heard a rustling in the branches. 
And with glowing chee]^ and forehead. 



HIAWATHA^S WOOING 99 

With the deer upon his shoulders, 
Suddenly from out the woodlands, 
Hiawatha stood before them, 125 

Straight the ancient Arrow-maker 
Looked up gravely from his labor, 
Laid aside the unfinished arrow, 
Bade him enter at the doorway, 
Saying, as he rose to meet him, 130 

" Hiawatha, you are welcome ! " 

At the feet of Laughing Water 
Hiawatha laid his burden, 
Threw the red deer from his shoulders ; 
And the maiden looked up at him, 135 

Looked up from her mat of rushes, 
Said with gentle look and accent, 
" You are welcome, Hiawatha ! " 

Very spacious was the wigwam. 
Made of deer-skin dressed and whitened, 140 
With the Gods of the Dacotahs 
Drawn and painted on its curtains. 
And so tall the doorway, hardly 
Hiawatha stooped to enter. 
Hardly touched his eagle-feathers 145 

As he entered at the doorway. 

Then uprose the Laughing Water, 
From the ground fair Minnehaha, 

L. 0/ 3. 



100 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Laid aside the mat unfinished, 
Brought forth food and set before them, 
Water brought them from the brooklet, 
Gave them food in earthen vessels, 
Gave them drink in bowls of bass-wood. 
Listened while the guest was speaking, 
Listened while her father answered, 
But not once her lips she opened, 
Not a single word she uttered. 

Yes, as in a dream she listened 
To the words of Hiawatha, 
As he talked of old Nokomis, 
Who had nursed him in his childhood, 
As he told of his companions, 
Chibiabos, the musician. 
And the very strong man, Kwasind, 
And of happiness and plenty 
In the land of the Ojibways, 
In the pleasant land and peaceful. 

" After many years of warfare, 
Many years of strife and bloodshed. 
There is peace between the Ojibways 
And the tribe of the Dacotahs." 
Thus continued Hiawatha, 
And then added, speaking slowly, 
" That this peace may last forever, 



HIAWATHA^S WOOING 101 

And our hands be clasped more closely, X75 

And our hearts be more united, 
Give me as my wife this maiden, 
Minnehaha, Laughing Water, 
Loveliest of Dacotah women ! " 

And the ancient Arrow-maker 180 

Paused a moment ere he answered, 
Smoked a little while in silence. 
Looked at Hiawatha proudly, 
Fondly looked at Laughing Water, 
And made answer very gravely : 185 

" Yes, if Minnehaha wishes ; 
Let your heart speak, Minnehaha ! " 

And the lovely Laughing Water 
Seemed more lovely as she stood there, 
Neither willing nor reluctant, 190 

As she went to Hiawatha, 
Softly took the seat beside him. 
While she said, and blushed to say it, 
"I will follow you, my husband ! " 

This was Hiawatha's wooing ! 195 

Thus it was he won the daughter 
Of the ancient Arrow-maker, 
In the land of the Dacotahs ! 

From the wigwam he departed, 
Leading with him Laughing Water ; 200 



102 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Hand in hand tliey went together, 

Through the woodland and the meadow, 

Left the old man standing lonely 

At the doorway of his wigwam, 

Heard the Falls of Minnehaha 205 

Calling to them from the distance, 

Crying to them from afar off, 

" Fare thee well, Minnehaha ! '' 

And the ancient Arrow-maker 
Turned again unto his labor, 210 

Sat down by his sunny doorway, 
Murmuring to himself, and saying : 
" Thus it is our daughters leave us, 
Those we love and those who love us ! 
Just when they have learned to help us, 215 
When we are old and lean upon them. 
Comes a youth with flaunting feathers. 
With his flute of reeds, a stranger 
Wanders piping through the village. 
Beckons to the fairest maiden, 220 

And she follows' where he leads her. 
Leaving all things for the stranger ! " 

Pleasant was the journey homeward. 
Through interminable forests. 
Over meadow, over mountain, ^ 225 

Over river, hill, and hollow. 



HIAWATHA'S WOOING 103 

Short it seemed to Hiawatha, 
Though they journeyed very slowly, 
Though his pace he checked and slackened 
To the steps of Laughing AVater. 230 

Over wide and rushing rivers 
In his arms he bore the maiden; 
Light he thought her as a feather, 
As the plume upon his head-gear ; 
Cleared the tangled pathway for her, 235 

Bent aside the swaying branches, 
Made at night a lodge of branches. 
And a bed with boughs of hemlock, 
And a fire before the doorway 
With the dry cones of the pine-tree. 240 

All the travelling winds went with them, 
O'er the meadow, through the forest ; 
All the stars of night looked at them, 
Watched with sleepless eyes their slumber ; 
From his ambush in the oak-tree 245 

Peered the squirrel, Adjidaumo, 
Watched with eager eyes the lovers ; 
And the* rabbit, the Wabasso, 
Scampered from the path before them, 
Peering, peeping from his burrow, 250 

Sat erect upon his haunches, 
Watched with curious eyes the lovers. 



104 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Pleasant was the journey homeward! 
All the birds sang loud and sweetly 
Songs of happiness and heart's ease ; 255 

Sang the bluebird, the Owaissa, 
" Happy are you, Hiawatha, 
Having such a wife to love you ! '' 
Sang the robin, the Opechee, 
^' Happy are you. Laughing Water, ' 260 

Having such a noble husband ! " 

Erom the sky the sun benignant 
Looked upon them through the branches, 
Saying to them, '' my children, 
Love is sunshine, hate is shadow, 265 

Life is checkered shade and sunshine, 
Eule by love, Hiawatha ! " 

From the sky the moon looked at them, 
Filled the lodge with mystic splendors, 
Whispered to them, " my children, 270 

Day is restless, night is quiet, 
Man imperious, woman feeble : 
Half is mine, although I follow ; 
Eule by patience. Laughing Wat'er ! " 

Thus it was they journeyed homeward ; 275 
Thus it was that Hiawatha 
To the lodge of old Nokomis 
Brought the moonlight, starlight, firelight, 



HIAWATHA'S WOOING 105 

Brought the sunshine of his people, 
Minnehaha, Laughing Water, 280 

Handsomest of all the women 
In the land of the Dacotahs, 
In the land of handsome women. 



XI 

Hiawatha's wedding-feast 

You shall hear how Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
How the handsome Yenadizze 
Danced at Hiawatha's wedding; 
How the gentle Chibiabos, 
He the sweetest of musicians, 
Sang his songs of love and longing; 
How lagoo, the great boaster, 
He the marvellous story-teller, 
Told his tales of strange adventure, 
That the feast might be more joyous. 
That the time might pass more gayly, 
And the guests be more contented. 

Sumptuous was the feast Nokomis 
Made at Hiawatha's wedding ; 
All the bowls were made of bass-wood. 
White and polished very smoothly. 
All the spoons of horn of bison. 
Black and polished very smoothly. 

She had sent through all the village 
106 



HIAWATHA'S WEDDING-FEAST 107 

Messengers with wands of willow, 20 

As a sign of invitation, 

As a token of the feasting ; 

And the wedding guests assembled, 

Clad in all their richest raiment, 

Robes of far and belts of wampum, 25 

Splendid with their paints and plumage, 

Beautiful with beads and tassels. 

First they ate the sturgeon, Nahma, 
And the pike, the Maskenozha, 
Caught and cooked by old Nokomis ; 30 

Then on pemican they feasted, 
Pemican and buffalo marrow. 
Haunch of deer and hump of bison. 
Yellow cakes of the Mondamin, 
And the wild rice of the river. 35 

But the gracious Hiawatha, 
And the lovely Laughing Water, 
And the careful old ISTokomis, 
Tasted not the food before them, 
Only waited on the others. 40 

Only served their guests in silence. 

And when all tjie guests had finished, 
Old Nokomis, brisk and busy. 
From an ample pouch of otter, 
Filled the red-stone pipes for smoking 45 • 



108 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

With tobacco from the southland, 
Mixed with bark of the red willow, 
And with herbs and leaves of fragrance. 

Then she said, " Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Dance for us your merry dances, 50 

Dance the Beggar's Dance to please us, 
That the feast may be more joyous. 
That the time may pass more gayly, 
And our guests be more contented ! " 

Then the handsome Pau-Puk-Keewis, 55 

He the idle Yenadizze, 
He the merry mischief-maker, 
Whom the people called the Storm -Fool, 
Rose among the guests assembled. 

Skilled was he in sports and pastimes, 60 

In the merry dance of snow-shoes. 
In the play of quoits and ball-play ; 
Skilled was he in games of hazard. 
In all games of skill and hazard, 
Pugasaing, the Bowl and Counters, 65 

Kuntassoo, the Game of Plum-stones. 

Though the warriors called him Faint-Heart 
Called him coward, Shaugodaya, 
Idler, gambler, Yenadizze, 

Little heeded he their jesting, 70 

Little cared he for their insults, 



HIAWATHA^S WEDDING-FEAST 109 

For the women and the maidens 
Loved the handsome Pau-Puk-Keewis. 

He was dressed in shirt of doe-skin, 
White and soft and fringed with erijiine, 75 

All inwrought with beads of wampum ; 
He was dressed in deer-skin leggings, 
Fringed with hedgehog quills and ermine. 
And in moccasins of buck-skin. 
Thick with quills and beads embroidered. 80 
On his head were plumes of swan's down. 
On his heels were tails of foxes, 
In one hand a fan of feathers. 
And a pipe was in the other. 

Barred with streaks of red and yellow, .85 
Streaks of blue and bright vermilion. 
Shone the face of Pau-Puk-Keewis. 
Prom his forehead fell his tresses. 
Smooth, and parted like a woman's. 
Shining bright with oil, and plaited, 90 

Hung with braids of scented grasses. 
As among the guests assembled, 
To the sound of flutes and singing. 
To the sound of drums and voices. 
Eose the handsome Pau-Puk-Keewis, ^ 95 

And began his mystic dances. 

First he danced a solemn measure, 



110 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Very slow in step and gesture, 

In and out among the pine-trees, 

Through the shadows and the sunshine, loo 

Treading softly like a panther. 

Then more swiftly and still swifter, 

Whirling, spinning round in circles. 

Leaping o'er the guests assembled, 

Eddying round and round the wigwam, 105 

Till the leaves went whirling with him. 

Till the dust and wind together 

Swept in eddies round about him. 

Then along the sandy margin 
Of the lake, the Big-Sea-Water, no 

On he sped with frenzied gestures. 
Stamped upon the sand and tossed it 
Wildly in the air around him ; 
Till the wind became a whirlwind, 
Till the sand was blown and sifted 115 

Like great snowdrifts o'er the landscape, 
Heaping all the shores with Sand Dunes, 
Sand Hills of the Nagow Wudjoo ! 

Thus the merry Pau-Puk-Keewis 
Danced his Beggar's Dance to ]Dlease them, 120 
And, returning, sat down laughing 
There among the guests assembled, 
Sat and fanned himself serenely 



HIAWATHA'S WEDDING-FEAST 111 

With his fan of turkey-feathers. 

Then they said to Chibiabos, 125 

To the friend of Hiawatha, 
To the sweetest of all singers, 
To the best of all musicians, 
" Sing to us, Chibiabos ! 

Songs of love and songs of longing, 130 

That the feast may be more joyous. 
That the time may pass more gayly, 
And our guests be more contented ! " 

And the gentle Chibiabos 
Sang in accents sweet and tender, 135 

Sang in tones of deep emotion, 
Songs of love and songs of longing ; 
Looking still at Hiawatha, 
Looking at fair Laughing Water, 
Sang he softly, sang in this wise ; 140 

" Onaway ! Awake, beloved ! 
Thou the wild-flower of the forest ! 
Thou the wild-bird of the prairie ! 
Thou with eyes so soft and fawn-like ! 

" If thou only lookest at me, 145 

I am happy, I am happy, 
As the lilies of the prairie, 
When they feel the dew upon them ! 

" Sweet thy breath is as the fragrance 



112 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Of the wild-flowers in the morning, 

As their fragrance is at evening, 

In the Moon when leaves are falling. 

" Does not all the blood within me 
Leap to meet thee, leap to meet thee. 
As the springs to meet the sunshine, 
In the moon when nights are brightest ? 

" Onaway ! my heart sings to thee. 
Sings with joy when thou art near me. 
As the sighing, singing branches 
In the pleasant Moon of Strawberries ! 

" When thoi; art not pleased, beloved, 
Then my heart is sad and darkened. 
As the shining river darkens 
When the clouds drop shadows on it ! 

" When thou smilest, my beloved. 
Then my troubled heart is brightened, 
As in sunshine gleam the ripples 
That the cold wind makes in rivers. 

" Smiles the earth, and smile the waters. 
Smile the cloudless skies above us. 
But I lose the way of smiling 
When thou art no longer near me ! 

" I myself, myself ! behold me ! 
Blood of my beating heart, behold me ! 
awake, awake, beloved ! 



HIAWATHA'S WEDDING-FEAST 113 

Onaway ! awake, belov^ed ! " 

Thus the gentle Chibiabos 
Sang his song of love and longing ; 
And lagoo, the great boaster, 
He the marvellous story-teller, i8o 

He the friend of old Nokomis, 
Jealous of the sweet musician, 
Jealous of the applause they gave him, 
Saw in all the eyes around him, 
Saw in all their looks and gestures, 185 

That the wedding guests assembled 
Longed to hear his pleasant stories, 
His immeasurable falsehoods. 
Very boastful was lagoo ; 

Never heard he an adventure 190 

But himself had met a greater ; 
Never any deed of daring 
But himself had done a bolder ; 
Never any marvellous story 
But himself could tell a stranger. 195 

Would you listen to his boasting, 
Would you only give him credence, 
No one ever shot an arrow 
Half so far and high as he had ; 
Ever caught so many fishes, 200 

Ever killed so many reindeer. 



114 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Ever trapped so many beaver ! 

Nbne could run so fast as he could, ■ 
None could dive so deep as he could, 
None could swim so far as he could ; 
None had made so many journeys, 
None had seen so many wonders, 
As this wonderful lagoo. 
As this marvellous story-teller ! 

Thus his name became a by-word 
And a jest among the people ; 
And whene'er a^boastful hunter 
Praised his own address too highly, 
Or a warrior, home returning, 
Talked too much of his achievements, 
All his hearers cried, " lagoo ! 
Here's lagoo come among us ! " • 

He it was who carved the cradle 
Of the little Hiawatha, 
Carved its framework out of linden. 
Bound it strong with reindeer sinews ; 
He it was who taught him later 
How to make his bows and arrows. 
How to make the bows of ash-tree, 
And the arrows of the oak-tree. 
So among the guests assembled 
At my Hiawatha's wedding 



HIAWATHA^ S WEDDING-FEAST 115 

Sat lagoo, old and ugly, 

Sat the marvellous story-teller. 

And tliey said, " good lagoo, 230 

Tell us now a tale of wonder, 
Tell us of some strange adventure, 
That the feast may be more joyous, 
That the time may pass more gayly, 
And our guests be more contented ! " 235 

And lagoo answered straightway, 
'' You shall hear a tale of wonder. - 
You shall hear the strange adventures 
Of Osseo, the Magician, 
From the Evening Star descended.^^ 240 



XII 

THE SON OF THE EVENING STAB 

Can it be the sun descending 
O'er the level plain of water ? 
Or the E-ed Swan floating, flying, 
Wounded by the magic arrow. 
Staining all the waves with crimson, 
With the crimson of its life-blood. 
Filling all the air with splendor, 
With the splendor of its plumage? 

Yes ; it is the sun descending, 
Sinking down into the water ; 
All the sky is stained with purple. 
All the water flushed with crimson ! 
No 5 it is the Red Swan floating. 
Diving down beneath the watery 
To the sky its wings are lifted. 
With its blood the waves are reddened ! 

Over it the Star of Evening 
Melts and trembles through the purple, 
Hangs suspended in the twilight. 
116 



THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR 111 

No ; it is the bead of wampum 20 

On the robes of the G-reat Spirit, 
As he passes through the twilight, 
Walks in silence through the heavens. 

This with joy beheld lagoo 
And he said in haste : " Behold it 1 25 

See the sacred Star of Evening ! 
You shall hear a tale of wonder, 
Hear the story of Osseo, 
Son of the Evening Star, Osseo ! 

" Once, in days no more remembered, 30 

Ages nearer the beginning. 
When the heavens were closer to us, 
And the Gods were more familiar. 
In the North-land lived a hunter. 
With ten young and comely daughters, 35 

Tall and lithe as wands of willow ; 
Only Oweenee, the youngest. 
She the wilful and the wayward. 
She the silent, dreamy maiden. 
Was the fairest of the sisters. 40 

"All these women married warriors^ 
Married brave and haughty husbands 
Only Oweenee, the youngest, 
Laughed and flouted all her lovers. 
All her young and handsome suitors, 45 



118 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

And then married old Osseo, 

Old Osseo, poor and ugly, 

Broken with age and weak with coughing, 

Always coughing like a squirrel. 

" Ah, but beautiful within him 
Was the spirit of Osseo, 
From the Evening Star descended, 
Star of Evening, Star of Woman, 
Star of tenderness and passion ! 
All its fire v/as in his bosom. 
All its beauty in his spirit. 
All its mystery in his being, 
All its splendor in his language ! 

''And her lovers, the rejected, 
Handsome men with belts of wampum. 
Handsome men with paint and feathers, 
Pointed at her in derision. 
Followed her with jest and laughter. 
But she said : ' I care not for you, 
Care not for your belts of wampum, 
Care not for your paint and feathers. 
Care not for your jests and laughter; 
I am happy with Osseo ! ' 

" Once to some great feast invited. 
Through the damp and dusk of evening 
Walked together the ten sisters, 



THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR 119 

Walked together with their husbands ; 

Slowly followed old Osseo, 

With fair Oweenee beside him ; 

All the others chatted gayl}^ 75 

These two only walked in silence. 

" At the western sky Osseo 
Gazed intent, as if imploring, 
Of ten 'stopped and gazed imploring 
At the trembling Star of Evening, 80 

At the tender Star of Woman ; 
And they heard him murmur softly, . 
^ Ah, sJiowam nemesJiin, JSfosa I 
Pity, pity me, my father ! ' 

" ' Listen ! ' said the eldest sister, 85 

' He is praying to his father ! 
What a pity that the old man 
Does not stumble in the pathway. 
Does not break his neck by falling ! ' 
And they laughed till all the forest 90 

Eang with their unseemly laughter. 

" On their pathway through the woodlands 
Lay an oak, by storms uprooted, 
Lay the great trunk of an oak-tree, 
Buried half in leaves and mosses, 95 

Mouldering, crumbling, huge and hollow. 
And OsseO; when he saw it, 



120 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Gave a shout, a cry of anguish, 

Leaped into its yawning cavern. 

At one end went in an old man, 

Wasted, wrinkled, old, and ugly ; 

From the other came a young man, 

Tall and straight and strong and handsome. 

" Thus Osseo was transfigured. 
Thus restored to youth and beauty ; 
But alas for good Osseo, 
And for Oweenee, the faithful ! 
Strangely, too, was she transfigured. 
Changed into a weak old woman. 
With a staff she tottered onward, 
Wasted, wrinkled, old, and ugly ! 
And the sisters and their husbands 
Laughed until the echoing forest 
Eang with their unseemly laughter. 

" But Osseo turned not from her, 
Walked with slower step beside her. 
Took her hand, as brown and withered 
As an oak-leaf is in Winter, 
Called her sweetheart, Nenemoosha, 
Soothed her M'ith soft words of kindness, 
Till they reached the lodge of feasting, 
Till they sat down in the wigwam, 
Sacred to the Star of Evening, 



THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR 121 

To the tender Star of Woman. 

" Wrapt in visions, lost in dreaming, 125 

At the banquet sat Osseo ; 
All were merry, all were happy, 
All were joyous but Osseo, 
Neither food nor drink he tasted, 
Neither did he speak nor listen, 130 

But as one bewildered sat he, 
Looking dreamily and sadly. 
First at Oweenee, then upward 
At the gleaming sky above them. 

" Then a voice was heard, a whisper, 135 

Coming from the starry distance, 
Coming from the empty vastness. 
Low, and musical, and tender ; 
And the voice said : ' Osseo ! 
my son, my best beloved ! 140 

Broken are the spells that bound you. 
All the charms of the magicians. 
All the magic powers of evil ; 
Come to me ; ascend, Osseo ! 

" ' Taste the food that stands before you ; 145 
It is blessed and enchanted, 
It has magic virtues in it, 
It will change you to a spirit. 
All your bowls and all your kettles 



122 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Shall be wood and clay no longer ; 150 

But the bowls be changed to wampum, 
And the kettles shall be silver : 
They shall shine like shells of scarlet, 
Like the fire shall gleam and glimmer. 

" ' And the women shall no longer 155 

Bear the dreary doom of labor, 
But be changed to birds, and glisten 
AVith the beauty of the starlight. 
Painted with the dusky splendors 
Of the skies and clouds of evening ! ' 160 

" What Osseo heard as whispers. 
What as words he comprehended, 
W^as but music to the others. 
Music as of birds afar off. 

Of the whippoorwill afar off, 165 

Of the lonely Wawonaissa 
Singing in the darksome forest. 

" Then the lodge began to tremble, 
Straight began to shake and tremble. 
And they felt it rising, rising, 170 

Slowly through the air ascending. 
From the darkness of the tree-tops 
Forth into the dewy starlight. 
Till it passed the topmost branches ; 
And behold ! the w^ooden dishes 17? 



THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR 123 

All were changed to shells of scarlet ! 

And behold ! the earthen kettles 

All were changed to bowls of silver ! 

And the roof-poles of the wigwam 

Were as glittering rods of silver, i8o 

And the roof of bark upon them 

As the shining shards of beetles. 

"_Then Osseo gazed around him. 
And he saw the nine fair sisters, 
All the sisters and their husbands, 185 

Changed to birds of various plumage. 
Some were jays and some were magpies. 
Others thrushes, others blackbirds ; 
And they hopped, and sang, and twittered. 
Pecked and fluttered all their feathers, 190 

Strutted in their shining plumage. 
And their tails like fans unfolded. 

^' Only Oweenee, the youngest, 
Was not changed, but sat in silence. 
Wasted, wrinkled, old, and ugly, 195 

Looking sadly at the others ; 
Till Osseo, gazing upward, 
Gave another cry of anguish. 
Such a cry as he had uttered 
By the oak-tree in the forest. 200 

" Then returned her youth and beauty 



124 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

And lier soiled and tattered garments 

Were transformed to robes of ermine, 

And her staff became a feather, 

Yes, a shining silver feather ! 205 

" And again the wigwam trembled. 
Swayed and rnshed through airy currents, 
Through transparent cloud and vapor, 
And amid celestial splendors 
On the Evening Star alighted, 210 

As a snow-flake falls on snow-flake. 
As a leaf drops on a river. 
As the thistle-down on water. 

" Forth with cheerful words of welcome 
Came the father of Osseo, 215 

He with radiant locks of silver. 
He with eyes serene and tender. 
And he said : ^ My son Osseo, 
Hang the cage of birds you bring there. 
Hang the cage with rods of silver, 220 

And the birds with glistening feathers. 
At the doorway of my wigwam.' 

" At the door he hung the bird-cage, 
And they entered in and gladly 
Listened to Osseo's father, 225 

Euler of the Star of Evening, 
As he said : ' my Osseo ! 



xHE SON OF THE EVENING STAR 125 

I have had compassion on you, 

Given jou back your youth and beauty ; 

Into birds of various plumage 230 

Changed your sisters and their husbands, 

Changed them thus because they mocked you 

In the figure of the old man. 

In that aspect sad and wrinkled, 

Could not see your heart of passion, 235 

Could not see your youth immortal ; 

Only Oweenee, the faithful. 

Saw your naked heart and loved you. 

" ' In the lodge that glimmers yonder, 
In the little star that twinkles . 240 

Through the vapors on the left hand, 
Lives the envious Evil Spirit, 
The Wabeno^ the magician. 
Who transformed you to an old man. 
Take heed lest his beams fall on you, 245 

For the rays he darts around him 
Are the powers of his enchantment. 
Are the arrows that he uses.' 

" Many years, in peace and quiet, 
On the peaceful Star of Evening 250 

Dwelt Osseo with his father ; 
Many years, in song and flutter. 
At the doorway of the wigwam, 



126 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Himg the cage with rods of silver, 

And fair Oweenee, the faithful, 255 

Bore a son unto Osseo, 

With the beauty of his mother, 

With the courage of his father. 

" And the boy grew up and prospered, 
And Osseo, to delight him, 260 

Made him little bows and arrows. 
Opened the great cage of silver. 
And let loose his aunts and uncles. 
All those birds with glossy feathers, 
Por his little son to shoot at. 265 

" Eound and round they wheeled and darted, 
Filled the Evening Star with music. 
With their songs of joy and freedom ; 
Filled the Evening Star with splendor ; 
With the fluttering of their plumage ; 270 

Till the boy, the little hunter, 
Bent his bow and shot an arrow, 
Shot a swift and fatal arrow, 
And, a bird, with shining feathers, 
At his feet fell wounded sorely. 275 

" But, wondrous transformation ! 
^T was no bird he saw before him, 
^T was a beautiful young woman. 
With the arrow in her bosom ! 



THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR 127 

'^ When lier blood fell on the planet, 280 

On the sacred Star of Evening, 
Broken was the spell of magic, 
Powerless was the strange enchantment, 
And the youth, the fearless bowman. 
Suddenly felt himself descending, 285 

Held by unseen hands, but sinking 
Downward through the empty spaces. 
Downward through the clouds and vapors, 
Till he rested on an island. 
On an island, green and grassy, 290 

Yonder in the Big-Sea- Water. 

" After him he saw descending 
All the birds with shining feathers. 
Muttering, falling, wafted downward, 
Like the painted leaves of Autumn ; 295 

And the lodge with poles of silver. 
With its roof like wings of beetles. 
Like the shining shards of beetles. 
By the winds of heaven uplifted. 
Slowly sank upon the island, 300 

Bringing back the good Osseo, 
Bringing Oweenee, the faithful. 

"Then the birds, again transfiguredj 
Eeassumed the shape of mortals. 
Took their shape, but not their stature, 305 



128 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

They remained as Little People, 

Like the Pygmies, the Puk-Wudjies, 

And on pleasant nights of Summer, 

When the Evening Star was shining, 

Hand in hand they danced together, 310 

On the island's craggy headlands, 

On the sand-beach low and level. 

" Still their glittering lodge is seen there, 
On the tranquil Summer evenings. 
And npon the shore the fisher 315 

Sometimes hears their happy voices, 
Sees them dancing in the starlight ! '' 

When the story was completed. 
When the wondrous tale was ended, 
Looking round upon his listeners, 320 

Solemnly lagoo added : 
" There are great men, I have known such, 
Whom their people understand not, 
Whom they even make a jest of, 
Scoff and jeer at in derision, 325 

From the story of Osseo 
Let them learn the fate of jesters ! " 

All the wedding guests delighted 
Listened to the marvellous story. 
Listened laughing and applauding, 330 

And they whispered to each other : 



THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR 129 

"Does he mean himself, I wonder ? 
And are we the aunts and uncles ? '^ 

Then again sang Chibiabos, 
Sang a song of love and longing, 335 

In those accents sweet and tender, 
In those tones of pensive sadness, 
Sang a maiden's lamentation 
For her lover, her Algonquin. 

" When I think of my beloved, 340 

Ah me ! think of my beloved. 
When my heart is thinking of him, 
my sweetheart, my Algonquin ! 

" Ah me ! when I parted from him, 
Round my neck he hung the wampum, 345 

As a pledge, the snow-white wampum, 
my sweetheart, my Algonquin ! 

" I will go with you, he whispered. 
Ah me ! to your native country ; 
Let me go with you he whispered ; 350 

my sweetheart, my Algonquin ! 

" Far away, away, I answered, 
Very far away, I answered. 
Ah me ! is my native country, 
my sweetheart, my Algonquin ! 355 

" When I looked back to behold him, 
Where we parted, to behold him. 



130 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

After me he still was gazing, 

my sweetheart, my Algonquin ! 

" By the tree he still was standing, 360 

By the fallen tree was standing, 
That had dropped into the water, 
my sweetheart, my Algonquin ! 

"When I think of my beloved, 
Ah me ! think of my. beloved, 365 

When my heart is thinking of him, 
my sweetheart, my Algonquin ! " 

Such was Hiawatha's wedding, 
Such the dance of Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Such the story of lagoo, 370 

Such the songs of Chibiabos ; 
Thus the wedding banquet ended, 
And the wedding guests departed. 
Leaving Hiawatha happy 
With the night and Minnehaha. 375 



XIII 

BLESSING THE CORA^FIELDS 

SixG, Song of Hiawatha, 

Of the happy days that followed, 

In the land of the Ojibways, 

In the pleasant land and peaceful ! 

Sing the mysteries of Mondamin, 

Sing the Blessing of the Cornfields ! 

Buried was the bloody hatchet, 
Buried was the dreadful war-club, 
Buried were all warlike weapons. 
And the war-cry was forgotten. 
There was peace among the nations ; 
Unmolested roved the hunters. 
Built the birch canoe for sailing. 
Caught the fish in lake and river, 
Shot the deer and trapped the beaver 
Unmolested worked the women. 
Made their sugar from the maple, 
Gathered wild rice in the meadows. 
Dressed the skins of deer and beaver, 
131 



132 THE SONG OF HI ui WAT HA 

All around the happy village 
Stood the maize-fields, green and shining, 
Waved the green plumes of Mondamin, 
Waved his soft and sunny tresses, 
Filling all the land with plenty. 
^T was the women who in Springtime 
Planted the broad fields and fruitful, 
Buried in the earth Mondamin ; 
'T was the women who in Autumn 
Stripped the yellow husks of harvest, 
Stripped the garments from Mondamin, 
Even as Hiawatha taught them. 

Once, when all the maize was planted, 
Hiawatha, wise and thoughtful, 
Spake and said to Minnehaha, 
To his wife, the Laughing Water : 
" You shall bless to-night the cornfields, 
Draw a magic circle round them. 
To protect them from destruction, 
Blast of mildew, blight of insect, 
Wagemin, the thief of cornfields, 
Paimosaid, who steals the maize-ear ! 

" In the night, when all is silence, 
In the night, when all is darkness, 
When the Spirit of Sleep, Nepahwin, 
' Shuts the doors of all the wigwams, 



BLESSING THE CORNFIELDS 133 

So that not an ear can hear you, 

So that not an eye can see you, 

Eise up from your bed in silence, 

Lay aside your garments wholly, 

Walk around the fields you planted, 50 

Bound the borders of the cornfields. 

Covered by your tresses only, 

Kobed with darkness as a garment. 

" Thus the fields shall be more fruitful. 
And the passing of your footsteps 55 

Draw a magic circle round them. 
So that neither blight nor mildew, 
Neither burrowing worm nor insect, 
Shall pass o'er the magic circle ; 
Not the dragon-fly, Kwo-ne-she, 60 

Nor the spider, Subbekashe, 
Nor the grasshopper, Pah-puk-keena, 
Nor the mighty caterpillar, 
Way-muk-kwana, with the bear-skin, 
King of all the caterpillars ! " 65 

On the tree-tops near the cornfields 
Sat the hungry crows and ravens, 
Kahgahgee, the King of Eavens, 
With his band of black marauders. 
And they laughed at Hiawatha, 70 

Till the tree-tops shook with laughter. 



134 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

With their melancholy laughter, 

At the words of Hiawatha. 

" Hear him ! " said they ; " hear the Wise Man, 

Hear the plots of Hiawatha ! " 75 

When the noiseless night descended 
Broad and dark o'er field and forest, 
When the mournful W^awonaissa, 
Sorrowing sang among the hemlocks, 
And the Spirit of Sleep, Nepahwin, 80 

Shut the doors of all the wigwams, 
From her bed rose Laughing Water, 
Laid aside her garments wholly. 
And with darkness clothed and guarded. 
Unashamed and unaff righted, 85 

Walked securely round the cornfields. 
Drew the sacred, magic circle 
Of her footprints round the cornfields. 

ISTo one but the Midnight only 
Saw her beauty in the darkness, 90 

No one but the Wawonaissa, 
Heard the panting of her bosom ; 
Guskewau, the darkness, wrapped her 
Closely in his sacred mantle. 
So that none might see her beauty, 95 

So that none might boast, " I saw her ! " 

On the morrow, as the day dawTied, 



BLESSING THE CORNFIELDS 135 

*Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens, 
Gathered all his black marauders, 
Crows and blackbirds, jays, and ravens, loo 

Clamorous on the dusky tree-tops, 
And descended, fast and fearless, 
On the fields of Hiawatha, 
On the grave of the Mondamin. 

" We will drag Mondamin," said they, 103 
" Erom the grave where he is buried. 
Spite of all the magic circles 
Laughing Water draws around it. 
Spite of all the sacred footprints 
Minnehaha stamps upon it ! " iio 

But the wary Hiawatha, 
Ever thoughtful, careful, watchful, 
Had o'erheard the scornful laughter 
When they mocked him from the tree-tops, 
" Kaw ! ^^ he said, "my friends the ravens ! 115 
Kahgahgee, my King of Ravens ! 
I will teach you all a lesson 
That shall not be soon forgotten ! " 

He bad risen before the daybreak. 
He had spread o'er all the cornfields 120 

Snares to catch the black marauders. 
And was lying now in ambush 
In the neighboring grove of pine-trees. 



136 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Waiting for the crows and blackbirds, 
Waiting for the jays and ravens. 125 

Soon they came with caw and clamor, 
Eush of wings and cry of voices, 
To their work of devastation. 
Settling down upon the cornfields. 
Delving deep with beak and talon, 130 

' Eor the body of Mondamin. 
And with all their craft and cunning, 
All their skill in wiles of warfare, 
They perceived no danger near them. 
Till their claws became entangled, 135 

Till they found themselves imprisoned 
In the snares of Hiawatha. 

From his place of ambush came he, 
Striding terrible among them. 
And so awful was his aspect 140 

That the bravest quailed with terror. 
Without mercy he destroyed them. 
Eight and left by tens and twenties 
And their wretched, lifeless bodies 
Hung aloft on poles for scarecrows 145 

Eound the consecrated cornfields. 
As a signal of his vengeance. 
As a warning to marauders. 

Only Kahgahgee, the leader, 



BLESSING THE CORNFIELDS 137 

Kahgahgee, the King of Eavens, 150 

He alone was spared among them 

As a hostage for his people. 

With his prisoner-string he bound him, 

Led him captive to his wigwam, 

Tied him fast with cords of elm bark 155 

To the ridge-pole of his wigwam. 

" Kahgahgee, my raven ! " said he, 
" You the leader of the robbers, 
You the plotter of this mischief. 
The contriver of this outrage, 160 

I will keep you, I will hold you. 
As a hostage for your people. 
As a pledge of good behavior ! " 

And he left him, grim and sulky, 
Sitting in the morning sunshine 165 

On the summit of the wigwam. 
Croaking fiercely his displeasure. 
Flapping his great sable pinions. 
Vainly sto-uggling for his freedom. 
Vainly calling on his people ! 170 

Summer passed, and Shawondasee 
Breathed his sighs o'er all the landscape, 
Prom the South-land sent his ardors. 
Wafted kisses warm and tender ; 
And the maize-field grew and ripened, 175 



138 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Till it stood in all the splendor 

Of its garments green and yellow, 

Of its tassels and its plumage, 

And the maize-ears full and shining 

Gleamed from bursting sheaths of verdure. i8o 

Then Nokomis the old woman, 
Spake, and said to Minnehaha : 
" 'T is the Moon when leaves are falling ; 
All the wild rice has been gathered, 
And the maize is ripe and ready ; 185 

Let us gather in the harvest, 
Let us wrestle with Mondamin, 
Strip him of his plumes and tassels, 
Of his garments green and yellow ! " 

And the merry Laughing Water , 190 

Went rejoicing from the wigwam, 
With Nokomis, old and wrinkled. 
And they called the women round them, 
Called the young men and the maidens, 
To the harvest of the cornfields, 195 

To the husking of the maize ear. 

On the border of the forest, . 
Underneath the fragrant pine-trees, 
Sat the old men and the warriors 
Smoking in the pleasant shadow. ^ 200 

In uninterrupted silence 



BLESSING THE CORNFIELDS 139 

Looked they at the gamesome labor 

Of the youDg men and the women ; 

Listened to their noisy talking, 

To their laughter and their singing, 205 

Heard them chattering like the magpies, 

Heard them laughing like the blue jays, 

Heard them singing like the robins. 

And whene'er some lucky maiden 

Found a red ear in the husking, 210 

Found a maize-ear red as blood is, 

" Nushka ! '' cried they all together, 

" Nushka ! you shall have a sweetheart, 

You shall have a handsome husband ! " 

" Ugh ! " the old men all responded 215 

From their seats beneath the pine-trees. 

And whene'er a youth or maiden 
Found a crooked ear in husking, 
Found a maize-ear in the husking 
Blighted, mildewed or misshapen, 220 

Then they laughed and sang together. 
Crept and limped about the cornfields. 
Mimicked in their gait and gestures 
Some old man bent almost double. 
Singing singly or together : 225 

" Wagemin, the thief of cornfields ! 
Paimosaid, the skulkino- robber ! " 



140 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Till the cornfields rang with laughter, 
Till from Hiawatha's wigwam 
Kahgahgee, the King of Eavens, 
Screamed and quivered in his anger, 
And from all the neighboring tree-tops 
Cawed and croaked the black marauders. 
" Ugh ! " the old men all responded, 
From their seats beneath the pine-trees ! 



XIV 

PICTURE-WRITING 

In those days said Hiawatha, 

" Lo ! how all things fade and perish ! 

From the memory of the old men 

Fade away the great traditions, 

The achievements of the warriors, 

The adventures of the hunters, 

All the wisdom of the Medas, 

All the craft of the Wabenos, 

All the marvellous dreams and visions 

Of the Jossakeeds, the Prophets ! 

" Great men die and are forgotten. 
Wise men speak; their words of wisdom 
Perish in the ears that hear them, 
Do not reach the generations 
That, as yet unborn, are waiting 
In the great, mysterious darkness 
Of the speechless days that shall be ! 

" On the grave-posts of our fathers 
Are no signs, no figures painted ; 
141 



142 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Who are in those graves we know not, 
Only know they are our fathers. 
Of what kith they are and kindred, 
From what old, ancestral Totem, 
Be it Eagle, Bear, or Beaver, 
They descended, this we know not. 
Only know they are our fathers. 

" Face to face we speak together, 
But we cannot speak when absent. 
Cannot send our voices from us 
To the friends that dwell afar off; 
Cann* t send a secret message. 
But the bearer learns our secret, 
May pervert it, may betray it. 
May reveal it unto others." 

Thus said Hiawatha, walking 
In the solitary forest. 
Pondering, musing in the forest. 
On the welfare of his people. 

From his pouch he took his colors, 
Took his paints of different colors, 
On the smooth bark of a birch-tree 
Painted many shapes and figures. 
Wonderful and mystic figures. 
And each figure had a meaning, 
Each some word or thought suggested. 



PICTURE-WRITING 143 

Gitche Manito the Mighty, 
He, the Master of Life, was painted 
As an ^gg, with points projecting 
To the four winds of the heavens. 
Everywhere is the Great Spirit, 50 

Was the meaning of this symboL 

Mitche Manito the Mighty, 
He the dreadful Spirit of Evil, 
As a serpent was depicted. 
As Kenabeek, the great serpent. - 55 

Very crafty, very cunning. 
Is the creeping Spirit of Evil, 
Was the meaning of this symbol. 

Life and Death he drew as circles. 
Life was white, but Death was darkened ; 60 
Sun and moon and stars he painted, 
Man and beast, and fish and reptile, 
Eorests, mountains, lakes, and rivers. 

For the earth he drew a straight line, 
Eor the sky a bow above it ; 65 

White the space between for daytime, 
Filled with little stars for night-time ; 
On the left a point for sunrise. 
On the right a point for sunset. 
On the top a point for noontide, 70 

And for rain and cloudy weather 



144 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Waving lines descending from it. 

Footprints pointing towards a wigwam 
> Were a sign of invitation, 
Were a sign of guests assembling; 
Bloody hands with palms uplifted 
Were a symbol of destruction. 
Were a hostile sign and symbol. 

All these things did Hiawatha 
Show unto his wondering people. 
And interpreted their meaning. 
And he said, " Behold, your graveposts 
Have no mark, no sign, nor symbol, 
Go and paint them all with figures. 
Each one with its household symbol, 
With its own ancestral Totem ; 
So that those who follow after 
May distinguish them, and know them." 

And they painted on the graveposts 
Of the graves yet unforgotten. 
Each his own ancestral Totem, 
Each the symbol of his household ; 
Figures of the Bear and Eeindeer, 
Of the Turtle, Crane, and Beaver, 
Each inverted as a token 
That the owner was departed, 
That the chief who bore the symbol 



PICTURE-WRITING . 145 

Lay beneath in dust and ashes. 

And the Jossakeeds, the Prophets, 
The Wabenos, the Magicians, loo 

And the Medicine-men, the Medas, 
Painted upon bark and deer-skin 
Figures for the songs they chanted, 
For each song a separate symbol. 
Figures mystical and awful, 105 

Figures strange and brightly colored ; 
And each figure had its meaning. 
Each some magic song suggested. 

The Great Spirit, the Creator, 
Flashing light through all the heaven ; no 

The Great Serpent, the Kenabeek, 
With his bloody crest erected, 
Creeping, looking into heaven ; 
In the sky the sun, that listens. 
And the moon eclipsed and dying ; 115 

Owl and eagle, crane and hen-hawk. 
And the cormorant, bird of magic ; 
Headless men, that walk the heavens, 
Bodies lying pierced with arrows. 
Bloody hands of death uplifted, 120 

Flags on graves, and great war-captains 
Grasping both the earth and heaven ! 

Such as these the shapes they painted 



146. THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

On the birch-bark and the deer-skin ; 

Songs of war and songs of hunting, 125 

Songs of medicine and of magic, 

All were written in these figures, 

Eor each figure had its meaning, « 

Each its separate song recorded. 

Nor forgotten was the Love-Song, 130 

The most subtle of all medicines. 
The most potent spell of magic. 
Dangerous more than war or hunting ! 
Thus the Love-Song was recorded, 
Symbol and interpretation. 135 

First a human figure standing. 
Painted in the brightest scarlet ; 
'T is the lover, the musician. 
And the meanii:^ is, " My painting 
Makes me powerful over others.'^ 14c 

Then the figure seated, singing. 
Playing on a drum of magic. 
And the interpretation, ^' Listen ! 
'T is my voice you hear, my singing ! " 

Then the same red figure seated 145 

In the shelter of a wigwam. 
And the meaning of the symbol, 
" I will come and sit beside you 
In the mystery of my passion ! " 



PICTURE-WRITING 147 

Then two figures, man and woman, 150 

Standing hand in hand together 
With their hands so clasped together 
That they seem in one united, 
And the words thus represented 
Are, " I see j^our heart within you, 155 

And your cheeks are red with blushes ! '' 

Next the maiden on an island, 
In the centre of an island ; 
And the song this shape suggested 
Was, " Though you were at a distance, 160 

Were upon some far-off island, 
Such the spell I cast upon you, 
Such the magic power of passion, 
I could straightway draw you to me !^^ 

Then the figure of the maiden 165 

Sleeping, and the lover near her. 
Whispering to her in her slumbers. 
Saying, " Though you were far from me 
In the land of Sleep and Silence, 
Still the voice of love would reach you ! '^ 170 
And the last of all the figures 
Was a heart within a circle, • 

Drawn within a magic circle ; 
And the image had this meaning : 
" Naked lies your heart before me, 175 



148 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

To your naked heart I whisper ! '' 

Thus it was that Hiawatha, 
In his wisdom, taught the peojole 
All the mysteries of painting, 
All the art of Picture- Writing, 
On the smooth bark of the birch-tree, 
On the white skin of the reindeer, 
On the graveposts of' the village. 



Hiawatha's lamentation 

In those days the Evil Spirits, 
All tlie Manitos of mischief, 
Fearing Hiawatha's wisdom, 
And his love for Chibiabos, 
Jealous of their faithful friendshipj 
And their noble words and actions, 
Made at length a league against them. 
To molest them and destroy them . 

Hiawatha, wise and wary, 
Often said to Chibiabos, 
"0 my brother ! do not leave me, 
Lest the Evil Spirits harm you ! " 
Chibiabos, young and heedless, 
Laughing shook his coal-black tresses, 
Answered ever sweet and childlike, 
"Do not fear for me, brother ! 
Harm and evil come not near me ! " 

Once when Peboan, the Winter, 
Eoofed with ice the Big-Sea-Water, 
149 



150 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

When the snow-flakes, whirling downward, 
Hissed among the withered oak-leaves, 
Changed the pine-trees into wigwams. 
Covered all the earth with silence, — 
Armed with arrows, shod with snow-shoes 
Heeding not his brother's warning. 
Fearing not the Evil Spirits, 
Forth to hunt the deer with antlers 
All alone went Chibiabos. 

Eight across the Big-Sea- Water 
Sprang with speed the deer before him. 
With the wind and snow he followed, 
O'er the treacherous ice he followed, 
Wild with all the fierce commotion 
And the rapture of the hunting. 

But beneath, the Evil Spirits 
Lay in ambush, waiting for him, 
Broke the treacherous ice beneath him. 
Dragged him downward to the bottom, 
Buried in the sand his body. 
Unktahee, the god of water. 
He the god of the Dacotahs, 
Drowned him in the deep abysses 
Of the lake of Gitche Gumee. 

From the headlands Hiawatha 
Sent forth such a wail of anguish. 



HIAWATHA'S LAMENTATION 151 

Such a fearful lamentation, 

That the bison paused to listen, 

And the wolves howled from the prairies, 

And the thunder in the distance 

Woke and answered " Baim-waWa ! " 50 

Then his face with black he painted. 
With his robe his head he covered. 
In his wigwam sat lamenting. 
Seven long weeks he sat lamenting. 
Uttering still this moan of sorrow : — • 55 

"He is dead, the sweet musician! 
He the sweetest of all singers ! 
He has gone from us forever. 
He has moved a little nearer 
To the Master of all music, 60 

To the Master of all singing ! 
my brother; Chibiabos ! " 

And the melancholy fir-trees 
Waved their dark green fans above him. 
Waved their purple cones above him, 65 

Sighing with him to console him. 
Mingling with his lamentation 
Their complaining, their lamenting. 

Came the Spring, and all the forest 
Looked in vain for Chibiabos ; 70 

Sighed the rivulet, Sebowisha, 



152 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Sighed the rushes in the meadow. 

From the tree-tops sang the bluebird, 
Sang the bhiebird, the Owaisso, 
^' Chibiabos ! Chibiabos ! 
He is dead, the sweet musician ! " 

From the wigwam sang the robin, 
Sang the robin, the Opechee, 
^^ Chibiabos ! Chibiabos ! 
He is dead, the sweetest singer ! " 

And at night through all the forest 
Went the whippoorwill complaining. 
Wailing went the Wawonaissa, 
" Chibiabos ! Chibiabos ! 
He is dead, the sweet musician ! 
He the sweetest of all singers ! " 

Then the medicine-men, the Medas, 
The magicians, the Wabenos, 
And the Jossakeeds, the prophets, 
Came to visit Hiawatha ; 
Built a Sacred Lodge beside him. 
To appease him, to console him, 
Walked in silent, grave procession. 
Bearing each a pouch of healing, 
Skin of beaver, lynx, or otter. 
Filled with magic roots and simples, 
Filled with very potent medicines. 



HIAWATHA'S LAMENTATION 153 

When he heard their steps approaching, 
Hiawatha ceased lamenting, 
Called no more on Chibiabos ; loo 

Naught he questioned, naught he answered. 
But his mournful head uncovered, 
From his face the mourning colors 
Washed he slowly and in silence, 
Slowly and in silence followed 105 

Onward to the Sacred Wigwam. 

There a magic drink they gave him, 
Made of Nahma-wusk, the spearmint, 
And Wabeno-wusk, the yarrow, 
Eoots of power, and herbs of healing ; no 

Beat their drums, and shook their rattles; 
Chanting singly and in chorus. 
Mystic songs like these, they chanted. 

" I myself, myself ! behold me ! 
'Tis the great Gray Eagle talking ; 115 

Come, ye white crows, come and hear him ! 
The loud-speaking thunder helps me ; " ' 

All the unseen spirits help me ; 
I can hear their voices calling. 
All around the sky I hear them ! 120 

I can blow you strong, my brother, 
I can heal you, Hiawatha." 

"Hi-au-ha! " replied the chorus. 



154 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

" Way-ha-way ! " the mystic chorus. 

" Friends of mine are all the serpents ! 125 
Hear me shake my skin of hen-hawk ! 
Mahng, the white loon, I can kill him ; 
I can shoot your heart and kill it ! 
I can blow you strong, my brother, 
I can heal you, Hiawatha ! '^ 130 

" Hi-au-ha ! " replied the chorus, 
" Way-ha-way ! " the mystic chorus. 

" I myself, myself ! the prophet ! 
When I speak the wigwam trembles, 
Shakes the Sacred Lodge with terror, 135 

Hands unseen begin to shake it ! 
When I walk, the sky I tread on 
Bends and makes a noise beneath me ! 
I can blow you strong, my brother ! 
E;ise and speak, Hiawatha ! " 14c 

" Hi-au-ha ! " replied the chorus, 
^' Way-ha-way ! " the mystic chorus. 
Then they shook their medicine-pouches 
O'er the head of Hiawatha, 
Danced their medicine-dance around him ; 145 
And upstarting wild and haggard. 
Like a man from dreams awakened, 
He was healed of all his madness. 
As the clouds are swept from heaven, 



HIAWATHA'S LAMENTATION 155 

Straightway from his brain departed, 150 

All his moody melancholy ; 
As the ice is swept from rivers, 
Straightway from his heart departed 
All his sorrow and affiiction. 

Then they summoned Chibiabos 155 

From his grave beneath the waters, 
From the sands of Gitchee Gumee 
Summoned Hiawatha's brother. 
And so mighty was the magic 
Of that cry and invocation, 160 

That he heard it as he lay there 
Underneath the Big-Sea-Water. 
From the sand he rose and listened, 
Heard the music and the singing. 
Came, obedient to the summons, 165 

To the doorway of the wigwam. 
But to enter they forbade him. 

Through a chink a coal they gave him, 
Through the door a burning firebrand ; 
Kuler in the Land of Spirits, 170 

Ruler o'er the dead, they made him. 
Telling him a fire to kindle 
For all those that died thereafter. 
Camp-fires for their night encampments 
On their solitary journey 175 



156 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

To the kingdom of Ponemah, 
To the land of the Hereafter. 

Erom the village of his childhood, 
From the homes of those who knew him, 
Passing silent through the forest, i8o 

Like a smoke-wreath wafted sideways, 
Slowly vanished Chibiabos ! 
Where he passed, the branches moved not, 
Where he trod the grasses bent not. 
And the fallen leaves of last year 185 

Made no sound beneath his footsteps. 

Pour whole days he journeyed onward, 
Down the pathway of the dead men ; 
On the deadman's strawberry feasted. 
Crossed the melancholy river, 190 

On the swinging log he crossed it. 
Came unto the Lake of Silver, 
In the Stone Canoe was carried 
To the Islands of the Blessed, 
To the land of ghosts and shadows. 195 

On that journey, moving slowly. 
Many weary spirits saw he, 
Panting under heavy burdens, 
Laden with war-clubs, bows and arrows, 
Robes of fur, and i»ots and kettles, 200 

And with food that friends had given 



HIAWATHA^ S LAMENTATION 157 

For that solitary journey. 

" Ah ! why do the living," said they, 
"Lay such heavy burdens on us ! 
Better were it to go naked, 205 

Better were it to go fasting. 
Than to bear such heavy burdens 
On our long and weary journey ! " 

Forth then, issued Hiawatha, 
Wandered eastward, wandered westward, 210 
Teaching men the use of simples 
And the antidotes for poisons. 
And the cure of all diseases. 
Thus was first made known to mortals 
All the mystery of Medamin, 215 

All the sacred art of healing. 



XVI 



PAU-PUK-KEEWIS 



You shall hear how Pan-Pak-Keewis, 
He, the handsome Yenadizze, 
Whom the people called the Storm Fool, 
Vexed the village with, disturbance ; 
You shall hear of all his mischief, 
And his flight from Hiawatha, 
And his wondrous transmigrations, 
And the end of his adventures. 

On the shores of Gitche Gumee, 
On the dunes of Nagow Wudjoo, 
By the shining Big-Sea-Water, 
Stood the lodge of Pau-Puk-Keewis. 
It was he who in his frenzy 
W^hirled these drifting sands together, 
On the dunes of Nagow Wudjoo, 
When, among the guests assembled. 
He so merrily and madly 
Danced at Hiawatha's wedding. 
Danced the Beggar's Dance to please them„ 
Now, in search of new adventures, 
168 



P .4 U-P UK-KEE WIS 159 

Erom his lodge went Pau-Puk-Keewis, 

Came with speed into the village, 

Found the young men all assembled 

In the lodge of old lagoo, 

Listening to his monstrous stories, 25 

To his wonderful adventures. 

He was telling them the story 
Of Ojeeg, the Summer-Maker, 
How he made a hole in heaven, 
How he climbed up into heaven, 30 

And let out the summer-weather, 
The perpetual, pleasant Summer ; 
How the Otter first essayed it ; 
How the Beaver, Lynx, and Badger, 
Tried in turn the great achievement ; 35 

From the summit of the mountain 
Smote their fists against the heavens. 
Smote against the sky their foreheads, 
Cracked the sky, but could not break it ; 
How the Wolverine, uprising, 40 

Made him ready for the encounter, 
Bent his knees down, like a squirrel, 
Drew his arms back, like a cricket. 

" Once he leaped," said old lagoo, 
" Once he leaped, and lo ! above him 45 

Bent the sky, as ice in rivers 



160 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

When the waters rise beneath it ; 
Twice he leaped, and lo ! above him 
Cracked the sky, as ice in rivers 
When the freshet is at highest ! 
Thrice he leaped, and lo ! above him 
Broke the shattered sky asunder, 
And he disappeared within it. 
And Ojeeg, the Fisher Weasel, 
With a bound went in behind him ! " 

" Hark you ! " shouted Pau-Puk-Keewis 
As he entered at the doorway ; 
"I am tired of all this talking, 
Tired of old lagoo's stories, 
Tired of Hiawatha's wisdom. 
Here is something to amuse you, 
Better than this endless talking." 

Then from out his pouch of wolf-skin 
Forth he drew, with solemn manner, 
All the game of Bowl and Counters, 
Pugasaing, with thirteen pieces. 
White on one side were they painted, 
And vermilion on the other ; 
Two Kenabeeks or great serpents, 
Two Ininewug or wedge-men, 
One great war-club, Pugamaugun, 
And one slender fish, the Keego, 



FA U-P UK-KEE WIS 161 

Four round pieces, Ozawabeeks, 

And three Sliesliebwug or ducklings. 

All were made of bone and painted, 75 

All except the Ozawabeeks ; 

These were brass, on one side burnished, 

And were black upon the other. 

In a wooden bowl he placed them, 
Shook and jostled them together, 80 

Threw them on the ground before him. 
Thus exclaiming and explaining: 
" E,ed side up are all the pieces. 
And one great Kenabeek standing 
On the bright side of a brass piece, 85 

On a burnished Ozawabeek ; 
Thirteen tens and eight are counted.'' 

Then again he shook the pieces. 
Shook and jostled them together, 
Threw them on the ground before him, 90 

Still exclaiming and explaining : 
" White are both the great Kenabeeks, 
White the Ininewug, the wedge-men, 
Red are all the other pieces ; 
Five tens and an eight are counted." 95 

Thus he taught the game of hazard, 
Thus displayed it and explained it, 
E;unning through its various chances, 



162 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Various changes, various meaniugs : 
Twenty curious eyes stared at him, 
Full of eagerness stared at him. 

" Many games," said old lagoo, 
" Many games of skill and hazard 
Have I seen in different nations. 
Have I played in different countries. 
He who plays with old lagoo 
Must have very nimble fingers ; 
Though you think yourself so skilful 
I can beat you, Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
I can even give you lessons 
In your game of Bowl and Counters ! '' 

So they sat and played together, 
All the old men and the young men, 
Played for dresses, weapons, wampum. 
Played till midnight, played till morning, 
Played until the Yenadizze, 
Till the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Of their treasures had despoiled them. 
Of the best of all their dresses, 
Shirts of deer-skin, robes of ermine. 
Belts of wampum, crests of feathers, 
Warlike weapons, pipes and pouches. 
Twenty eyes glared wildly at him. 
Like the eyes of wolves glared at him. 



PAU-PUK~KEEW1S 163 

Said the lucky Pau-Puk-Keewis : 125 

" In my wigwam I am lonely, 
In my wanderings and adventures 
I have need of a companion, 
Pain would have a Meshinauwa, 
An attendant and pipe-bearer. 130 

I will venture all these winnings, 
All these garments heaped about me, 
All this wampum, all these feathers, 
On a single throw will venture 
All against the young man yonder ! " 135 

'T was a youth of sixteen summers, 
'T was a nephew of lagoo ; 
Face-in-a-Mist, the people called him. 

As the fire burns in a pipe-head 
Dusky red beneath the ashes, 140 

So beneath his shaggy eyebrows 
Glowed the eyes of old lagoo. 
" Ugh ! " he answered very fiercely ; 
" Ugh ! " they answered all and each one. 

Seized the wooden bowl the old man, 145 

Closely in his bony fingers 
Clutched the fatal bowl, Onagon, 
Shook it fiercely and with fury. 
Made the pieces ring together 
As he threw them down before him. 150 



164 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Ked were both the great Kenabeeks, 
Red the Ininewug, the wedge-men, 
Red the Sheshebwug, the ducklingSj 
Black the four brass Ozawabeeks, 
White alone the fish, the Keego ; 155 

Only five the pieces counted ! 

Then the smiling Pau-Puk-Keewis 
Shook the bowl and threw the pieces ; 
Lightly in the air he tossed them, 
And they fell about him scattered ; 160 

Dark and bright, the Ozawabeeks, 
Red and white the other pieces. 
And upright among the others 
One Ininewug was standing, • 
Even as crafty Pau-Puk-Keewis 165 

Stood alone among the players, 
Saying, " Five tens ! mine the game is ! " 

Twenty eyes glared at him fiercely. 
Like the eyes of wolves glared at him. 
As he turned and left the wigwam, 170 

Followed by his Meshinauwa, 
By the nephew of lagoo. 
By the tall and graceful stripling, 
Bearing in his arms the winnings. 
Shirts of deer-skin, robes of ermine, 175 

Belts of wampum, pipes and weapons. 



PAU-PUK-EEEWIS 165 

- " Carry them," said Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Pointing with his fan of feathers, 
" To my wigwam far to eastward, 
On the dunes of Nagow Wiidjoo ! " i8o 

Hot and red with smoke and gambling 
Were the eyes of Pau-Puk-Keewis 
As he came forth to the freshness 
Of the pleasant summer morning. 
All the birds were singing gayly, 185 

All the streamlets flowing swiftly, 
And the heart of Pau-Puk-Keewis 
Sang with pleasure as the birds sing. 
Beat with triumph like the streamlets, 
As he wandered through the village, 190 

In the early gray of morning, 
With his fan of turkey-feathers. 
With his plumes and tufts of swan's down. 
Till he reached the farthest wigwam, 
Reached the lodge of Hiawatha. 195 

Silent was it and deserted ;. 
No one met him at the doorway. 
No one came to bid him welcome ; 
But the birds were singing round it, 
In and out and round the doorway, 200 

Hopping, singing, fluttering, feeding. 
And aloft upon the ridge-pole 



166 THE^ SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens, 
Sat with fiery eyes, and, screaming, 
Flapped his wings at Pau-Puk-Keewis. 

" All are gone ! the lodge is empty ! " 
Thus it was spake Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
In his heart resolving mischief ; — 
" Gone is wary Hiawatha, 
Gone the silly Laughing Water, 
Gone Nokomis, the old woman. 
And the lodge is left unguarded ! " 

By the neck he seized the raven, 
Whirled it round him like a rattle. 
Like a medicine-pouch he shook it. 
Strangled Kahgahgee, the raven. 
From the ridge-pole of the wigwam 
Left its lifeless body hanging. 
As an insult to its master, 
As a taunt to Hiawatha. 

With a stealthy step he entered. 
Round the. lodge in wild disorder 
Threw the household things about him. 
Piled together in confusion 
Bowls of wood and earthen kettles. 
Robes of buffalo and beaver, 
Skins of otter, lynx, and ermine. 
As an insult to ISTokomis, 



PA U-P UE-KEE WIS 167 

As a taunt to Minnehaha. 

Then departed Pau-Pnk-Keewis, 230 

Whistling, singing through the forest, 
Whistling gayly to the squirrels, 
Who from hollow boughs above him 
Dropped their acorn shells upon him, 
Singing gayly to the woodbirds, 235 

Who from out the leafy darkness 
Answered with a song as merry. 

Then he climbed the rocky headlands, 
Looking o'er the Gitche Gumee, 
Perched himself upon their summit, 240 

Waiting full of mirth and mischief 
The return of Hiawatha. 

Stretched upon his back he lay there ; 
Par below him plashed the w^aters, 
Plashed and washed the dreamy waters ; 245 
Far above him swam the heavens, 
Swam the dizzy, dreamy heavens ; 
E-ound him hovered, fluttered, rustled, 
Hiawatha's mountain chickens, 
Plock-wise swept and wheeled about him, 250 
Almost brushed him with their pinions. 

And he killed them as he lay there, 
Slaughtered them by tens and twenties, 
Threw their bodies down the headland, 



168 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Threw tliem on the beach below him, 
Till at length Kayoshk, the sea-gull, 
Perched upon the crag above them, 
Shouted : " It is Pau-Puk-Keewis ! 
He is slaying us by hundreds ! 
Send a message to our brother, 
Tidings send to' Hiawatha! '^ 



XYII 

THE HUNTING OF PAU-PUK-KEEWIS 

FtJLL of wrath, was Hiawatha 
When he came into our village, 
Found the people in confusion, 
Heard of all the misdemeanors, 
Ail the malice and the mischief. 
Of the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis. 

Hard his breath came through his nostrils. 
Through his teeth he buzzed and muttered 
Words of anger and resentment, 
Hot and humming like a hornet. 
" I will slay this Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Slay this mischief-maker ! " said he, 
" Kot so long and wide the world is, 
ISTot so rude and rough the way is, 
That my wrath shall not attain him, 
That my vengeance shall not reach him ! " 

Then in swift pursuit departed 
Hiawatha and the hunters 
On the trail of Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Through the forest, where he passed it, 
169 



170 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

To the headlands where he rested ; 

But they found not Pau-Puk-Keewis, 

Only in the trampled grasses, 

In the whortle-berry -bushes, 

Found the couch where he had rested, 25 

Found the impress of his body. 

From the lowlands far beneath them, 
From the Muskoday, the meadow, 
Pau-Puk-Keewis, turning backward 
Made a gesture of defiance, ' 30 

Made a gesture of derision ; 
And aloud cried Hiawatha, 
From the summit of the mountain : 
"jSTot so long and wide the world is, 
Not so rude and rough the way is, 35 

But my wrath shall overtake you. 
And my vengeance shall attain you ! " 

Over rock and over river, 
Through bush, and brake, and forest. 
Ban the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis ; 40 

Like an antelope he bounded. 
Till he came unto a streamlet 
In the middle of the forest. 
To a streamlet still and tranquil, 
That had overflowed its margin, 45 

To a dam made by the beavers, 



THE HUNTING OF PAU-PUK-KEEWIS 171 

To a pond of quiet water, 

Wliere knee-deep the trees were standing, 

Where the water-lilies floated. 

Where the rushes waved and whispered. 50 

On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
On the dam of trunks and branches, 
Through whose chinks the water spouted, 
O'er whose summit flowed the streamlet. 
Prom the bottom rose a beaver, 55 

Looked with two great eyes of wonder. 
Eyes that seemed to ask a question. 
At the stranger, Pau-Puk-Keewis. 

On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
O'er his ankles flowed the streamlet, 60 

Plowed the bright and silvery water. 
And he spake unto the beaver, 
With a smile he spake in this wise : 

" my friend Ahmeek, the beaver, 
Cool and pleasant is the water, 65 

Let me dive into the water. 
Let me rest there in your lodges ; 
Change me, too, into a beaver!" 

Cautiously replied the beaver. 
With reserve he thus made answer ; 70 

" Let me first consult the others, 
Let me ask the other beavers." 



172 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Down he sank into the water, 
Heavily sank he as a stone sinks, 
Down among the leaves and branches, 
Brown and matted at the bottom. 

On the dam stood Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
O'er his ankles flowed the streamlet, 
Spouted through the chinks below him, 
Dashed upon the stones beneath him, 
Spread serene and calm before him. 
And the sunshine and the shadows 
Fell in flecks and gleams upon him, 
Fell in little shining patches. 
Through the waving, rustling branches. 

From the bottom rose the beavers, 
Silently above the surface 
Rose one head and then another. 
Till the pond seemed full of beavers, 
Full of black and shining faces. 

To the beavers Pau-Pul^-Keewis 
Spake entreating, said in this wise : 
" Very pleasant is your dwelling, 
O my friends ! and safe from danger ; 
Can you not with all your cunning. 
All your wisdom and contrivance. 
Change me, too, into a beaver ? " 

" Yes ! " replied Ahmeek, the beaver, 



THE HUNTING OF PAU-PUK-KEEWIS 173 

He the King of all the beavers, 

"Let yourself slide down among us, loo 

Down into the tranquil water." 

Down into the pond among them 
Silently sank Pau-Puk-Keewis ; 
Black became his shirt of deer-skin, 
Black his moccasins and leggings, 105 

In a broad black tail behind him 
Spread his fox- tails and his fringes ; 
He was changed into a beaver. 

" Make me large," said Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
"Make me large, and make me larger, no 

Larger than the other beavers." 

" Yes," the beaver chief responded, 
" When our lodge below you enter, 
In our wigwam we will make you 
Ten times larger than the others." 115 

Thus into the clear, brown water 
Silently sank Pau-Puk-Keewis ; 
Found the bottom covered over 
With the trunks of trees and branches. 
Hoards of food against the winter, 120 

Piles and heaps against the famine ; 
Found the lodge with arching doorway. 
Leading into spacious chambers. 

Here they made him large and larger. 



174 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Made him largest of the beavers, 125 

Ten times larger than the others. 
" You shall be our ruler," said they, 
" Chief and King of all the beavers.'^ 

But not long had Pau-Puk-Keewis 
Sat in state among the beavers, 130 

When there came a voice of warning 
Prom the watchman at his station 
In the water-flags and lilies. 
Saying, " Here is Hiawatha ! 
Hiawatha with his hunters ! " 135 

Then they heard a cry above them, 
Heard a shouting and a tramping, 
Heard a crashing and a rushing, 
And the water round and o'er them 
Sank and sucked away in eddies, 140 

And they knew their dam was broken. 

On the lodge's roof the hunters 
Leaped, and broke it all asunder ; 
Streamed the sunshine through the crevice. 
Sprang the beavers through the doorway ; 145 
Hid themselves in deeper water. 
In the channel of the streamlet ; 
But the mighty Pau-Puk-Keewis 
Could not pass beneath the doorway ; 
He was puffed with pride and feeding, 150 



THE HUNTING OF PAU-PUK-KEEWIS 175 

He was swollen like a bladder. 

Through the roof looked Hiawatha, 
Cried aloud, " Pau-Puk-Keewis ! 
Vain are all your craft and cunning. 
Vain your manifold disguises! 155 

Well I know you, Pau-Puk-Keewis ! " 

With their clubs they beat and bruised him, 
Beat to death poor Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Pounded him as maize is pounded. 
Till his skull was crushed to pieces. 160 

Six tall hunters, lithe and limber. 
Bore him home on poles and branches, 
Bore the body of the beaver ; 
But the ghost, the Jeebi in him, 
Thought and felt as Pau-Puk-Keewis, 165 

Still lived on as Pau-Puk-Keewis. 

And it fluttered, strove, and struggled, 
Waving hither, waving thither, 
As the curtains of a wigwam 
Struggle with their thongs of deer-skin, 170 

When the wintry wind is blowing ; 
Till it drew itself together. 
Till it rose up from the body. 
Till it took the form and features, 
Of the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis 175 

Vanishing into the forest. 



176 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

But the wary Hiawatha 
Saw the figure ere it vanished, 
Saw the form of Pau-Puk-Keewis 
Glide into the soft blue shadow 
Of the pine-trees of the forest ; 
Toward the squares of white beyond it, 
Toward an opening in the forest. 
Like a wind it rushed and panted, 
Bending all the boughs before it, 
And behind it, as the rain comes, 
Came the steps of Hiawatha. 

To a lake with many islands 
Came the breathless Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Where among the water-lilies 
Pishnekuh, the brant, were sailing ; 
Through the tufts of rushes floating. 
Steering through the reedy islands. 
Now their broad black beaks they lifted, 
Now they plunged beneath the water, 
Now they darkened in the shadow. 
Now they brightened in the sunshine. 

"Pishnekuh ! " cried Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
"Pishnekuh ! ray brothers ! " said he, 
"Change me to a brant with plumage, 
With a shining neck and feathers, 
Make me large, and make me larger. 



THE HUNTING OF PAU-FUK-KEEWIS 111 

Ten times larger than the others." 

Straightway to a brant they changed him, 
With two huge and dusky pinions, 205 

With a bosom smooth and rounded, 
With a bill like two great paddles, 
Made him larger than the others. 
Ten times larger than the largest. 
Just as, shouting from the forest, 210 

On the shore stood Hiawatha. 

Up they rose with cry and clamor, 
With a whir and beat of pinions, 
Eose up from the reedy islands. 
From the water-flags and lilies. 215 

And they said to Pau-Puk-Keewis : 
" In your flying, look not downward. 
Take good heed, and look not downward. 
Lest some strange mischance should happen. 
Lest some great mishap befall you ! " 220 

East and far they fled to northward, 
East and far through mist and sunshine, 
Fed among the moors and fen-lands, 
Slept among the reeds and rushes. 

On the morrow as they journeyed, 225 

Buoyed and lifted by the South-AVind, 
Wafted onward by the South- Wind, 
Blowing fresh and strong behind them^ 



178 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Rose a sound of human voices, 

Eose a clamor from beneath them, 230 

From the lodges of a village, 

From the people miles beneath them. 

For the people of the village 
Saw the flock of brant with Avonder, 
Saw the wings of Pau-Puk-Keewis 235 

Flapping far up in the ether, 
Broader than two doorway curtains. 

Pau-Puk-Keewis heard the shouting, 
Knew the voice of Hiawatha, 
Knew the outcry of lagoo, 240 

And, forgetful of the warning. 
Drew his neck in, and looked downward. 
And the wind that blew behind him 
Caught his mighty fan of feathers. 
Sent him wheeling, whirling downward! 245 

All in vain did Pau-Puk-Keewis 
Struggle to regain his balance ! 
Whirling round and round and downward, 
He beheld in turn the village 
And in turn the flock above him, 250 

Saw the village coming nearer, 
And the flock receding farther. 
Heard the voices growing louder, 
Heard the shouting and the laughter ; 



I 



THE HUNTING OF PAU-PUK-KEEWIS 179 

Saw no more the flOck abo\''e him, 255 

Only saw the earth beneath him ; 

Dead out of the empty heaven, 

Dead among the shouting people, 

With a heavy sound and sullen, 

Eell the brant with broken pinions. 260 

Bnt his soul, his ghost, his shadow, 
Still survived as Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Took again the form and features 
Of the handsome Yenadizze, 
And again went rushing onward, 265 

Followed fast by Hiawatha, 
Crying : " Not so wide the world is, 
Not so long and rough the way is, 
But my wrath shall overtake yon. 
But my vengeance shall attain you ! " 270 

And so near he came, so near him. 
That his hand was stretched to seize him. 
His right hand to seize and hold him. 
When the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis 
Whirled and spun about in -circles, 275 

Fanned the air into a whirlwind, 
Danced the dust and leaves about him, 
And amid the whirling eddies 
Sprang into a hollow oak-tree. 
Changed himself into a serpent, 280 



180 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Gliding out tliroagh root and rubbish. 

With his right hand Hiawatha 
Smote amain the hollow oak-tree, 
Rent it into shreds and splinters, 
Left it lying there in fragments. 285 

But in vain; for Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Once again in human figure, 
Full in sight ran on before him. 
Sped away in gust and whirlwind, 
On the shores of Gitche Gumee, 290 

Westward by the Big-Sea- Water, 
Came unto the rocky headlands. 
To the Pictured Eocks of sandstone, 
Looking over lake and landscape. 
And the Old Man of the Mountain, 295 

He the Manito of Mountains, 
Opened wide his rocky doorways, 
Opened wide his deep abysses. 
Giving Pau-Puk-Keewis shelter 
In his caverns dark and dreary, 300 

Bidding Pau-Puk-Keewis welcome 
To his gloomy lodge of sandstone. 

There without stood Hiawatha, 
Pound the doorways closed against him. 
With his mittens, Minjekahwun, 305 

Smote great caverns in the sandstone. 



THE HUNTING OF PAU-PUK-KEEWIS 181 

Cried aloud in tones of thunder, 

" Open ! I am Hiawatha ! " 

But the Old Man of the Mountain 

Opened not, and made no answer 310 

Erom the silent crags of sandstone, 

From the gloomy rock abysses. 

Then he raised his hands to heaven, 
Called imploring on the tempest, 
Called Waywassimo, the lightning, 315 

And the thunder, Annemeekee; 
And they came with night and darkness, 
Sweeping down the Big-Sea- Water 
From the distant Thunder Mountains ; 
And the trembling Pau-Puk-Keewis 320 

Heard the footsteps of the thunder, 
Saw the red eyes of the lightning. 
Was afraid, and crouched and trembled. 

Then Waywassimo, the lightning. 
Smote the doorways of the caverns, 325 

With his war-club smote the doorways. 
Smote the jutting crags of sandstone ; 
And the thunder, Annemeekee, 
Shouted down into the caverns. 
Saying, " Where is Pau-Puk-Keewis ? '^ 330 

And the crags fell, and beneath them 
Dead among the rocky ruins 



182 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Lay the cunning Pau-Puk-Keewis, 

Lay the handsome Yenadizze, 

Slain in his own human figure. 335 

Ended were his wild adventures, 
Ended were his tricks and gambols, 
Ended all his craft and cunning. 
Ended all his mischief-making, 
All his- gambling and his dancing, 340 

All his wooing of the maidens. 

Then the noble Hiawatha 
Took his soul, his ghost, his shadow. 
Spake and said : " Pau-Puk-Keewis, 
Never more in human figure 345 

Shall you search for new adventures ; 
Never more with jest and laughter 
Dance the dust and leaves in whirlwinds; 
But above there in the heavens 
You shall soar and sail in circles ; 350 

I will change you to an eagle, 
To Keneu, the great war-eagle. 
Chief of all the fowls with feathers, 
Chief of Hiawatha's chickens." 

And the name of Pau-Puk-Keewis 355 

Lingers still among the people, 
Lingers still among the singers. 
And among the story-tellers ; 



THE HUNTING OF P AU-PUK-KEEWIS 183 

And in Winter, wken the snow-flakes 

Whirl in eddies round the lodges, 360 

When the wind in giisty tumult 

O'er the smoke-flue pipes and whistles, 

" There," they cry, " comes Pau-Puk-Keewis : 

He is dancing through the village, 

He is gathering in his harvest ! " 365 



xyiii 

THE DEATH OF KWASIND 

Far and wide among the nations 
Spread the name and fame of Kwasind; 
No man dared to strive with Kwasind, 
No man could compete with Kwasind. 
But the mischievous Puk-Wudjies, 
They the envious Little People, 
They the fairies and the pygmies, 
Plotted and conspired against him. 

" If this hateful Kwasind," said they, 
" If this great outrageous fellow 
Goes on thus a little longer, 
Tearing everything he touches, 
Eending everything to pieces, 
Filling all the world with wonder. 
What becomes of the Puk-Wudjies ? 
Who will care for the Puk-Wudjies ? 
He will tread us down like mushrooms, 
Drive us all into the water. 
Give our bodies to be eaten 
184 



THE DEATH OF KWASIND 185 

By the wicked Nee-ba-naw-baigs, 20 

By the Spirits of the water ! " 

So the angry Little People 
. All conspired against the Strong Man, 
All conspired to murder Kwasind, 
Yes, to rid the world of Kwasind, 25 

The audacious, overbearing, 
Heartless, haughty, dangerous Kwasind ! 

Now this wondrous strength of Kwasind 
In his crown alone was seated ; 
In his crown too was his weakness ; 30 

There alone could he be wounded, 
Nowhere else could weapon pierce him, 
Nowhere else could weapon harm him. 

Even there the only weapon 
That could wound him, that could slay him, 35 
Was the seed-cone of the pine-tree, 
"Was the blue cone of the fir-tree. 
This was Kwasind' s fatal secret, 
Known to no man among mortals. 
But the cunning Little People, . 40 

The Puk-Wudjies, knew the secret. 
Knew the only way to kill him. 

So they gathered cones together, 
Gathered seed-cones of the pine-tree. 
Gathered blue cones of the fir-tree, 45 



186 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

In the woods by Taquamenaw, 
Brought them to the river's margin, 
Heaped them in great piles together, 
Where the red rocks from the margin 
Jutting overhang the river. 
There they lay in wait for Kwasind, 
The malicious Little People. 

'T was an afternoon in Summer ; 
Very hot and still the air was, 
Very smooth the gliding river, 
Motionless the sleeping shadows; 
.Insects glistened in the sunshine, 
Insects skated on the water. 
Filled the drowsy air with buzzing, 
With a far resounding war-cry. 

Down the river came the Strong Man, 
In his birch canoe came Kwasind, 
Floating slowly down the current 
Of the sluggish Taquamenaw, 
Very languid with the weather, 
Very sleepy with the silence. 

From the overhanging branches. 
From the tassels of the birch-trees. 
Soft the Spirit of Sleep descended ; 
By his airy hosts surrounded, 
His invisible attendants, 



THE DEATH OF KWASIND 187 

Came the Spirit of Sleep, Nepahwin ; 

Like the biirnislied Dush-kwo-ne-she, 

Like a dragon-fly he hovered 

O'er the drowsy head of Kwasind. 75 

To his ear there came a murmur 
As of waves upon a sea-shore, 
As of far-off tumbling waters, 
As of winds among the pine-trees ; 
And he felt upon his forehead 80 

Blov\^s of little airy war-clubs. 
Wielded by the slumbrous legions 
Of the Spirit of Sleep, ISTepahwin, 
As of some one breathing on him. 

At the first blow of their war-clubs, 85 

Fell a drowsiness on Kwasind ; 
At the second blow they smote him, 
Motionless his paddle rested; 
At the third, before his vision 
Eeeled the landscape into darkness, 90 

Very sound asleep was Kwasind, 
So he floated down the river. 
Like a blind man seated upright, 
Floated down the Taquamenaw, 
Underneath the trembling birch-trees, 95 

Underneath the wooded headlands. 
Underneath the war encampment 



188 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Of the pygmies, the Puk-Wudjies. 

There they stood, all armed and waiting, 
Hurled the pine-cones down upon him, loo 

Struck him on his brawny shoulders, 
On his crown defenceless struck him. 
" Death to Kwasind ! " was the sudden 
War-cry of the Little People. 

And he sideways swayed and tumbled, 105 
Sideways fell into- the river. 
Plunged beneath the sluggish water 
Headlong, as an otter plunges ; 
And the birch-canoe, abandoned, 
Drifted empty down the river, no 

Bottom upward swerved and drifted : 
Nothing more was seen of Kwasind. 

But the memory of the Strong Man 
Lingered long among the people, 
And whenever through the forest 115 

Eaged and roared the wintry tempest, 
And the branches, tossed and troubled. 
Creaked and groaned and split asunder, 
" Kwasind ! " cried they ; " that is Kwasind ! 
He is gathering in his fire-wood ! " 120 



XIX 

THE GHOSTS 

Nevek stoops the soaring vulture 

On his quarry in the desert, 

On the sick or wounded bison, 

But another vulture, watching 

From his high aerial look-out. 

Sees the downward plunge, and follows ; 

And a third pursues the second. 

Coming from the invisible ether ; 

First a speck, and then a vulture, 

Till the air is dark with pinions. 

So disasters come not singly ; 
But as if they watched and waited, 
Scanning one another's motions, 
When the first descends, the others 
Follow, follow, gathering flock-wise 
Bound their victim, sick and wounded. 
First a shadow, then a sorrow, 
Till the air is dark with anguish. 

Now, o'er all the dreary North-land^ 
189 



190 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Mighty Peboan, the Winter, 

Breathing on the lakes and rivers, 

Into stone had changed their waters. 

Prom his hair he shook the snow-flakes, 

Till the plains were strewn with whiteness, 

One uninterrupted level, 

As if, stooping, the Creator 

With his hands had smoothed them over. 

Through the forest, wide and wailing, 
Eoamed the hunter on his snow-shoes ; 
In the village worked the women. 
Pounded maize, or dressed the deer-skin; 
And the young men played together 
On the ice the noisy ball-play, 
On the plain the dance of snow-shoes. 

One dark evening, after sundown, 
In her wigwam Laughing Water 
Sat with old Nokomis, waiting 
Por the steps of Hiawatha 
Homeward from the hunt returning. 

On their faces gleamed the firelight. 
Painting them with streaks of crimson, 
In the eyes of old Nokomis 
Glimmered like the watery moonlight, 
In the eyes of Laughing Water 
Glistened like the sun in water ; 45 



THE GHOSTS 191 

And behind them crouched their shadows 
In the corners of the mgwam, 
And the smoke in wreaths above them 
Climbed and crowded through the smoke-flue. 

Then the curtain of the doorway 5c 

Prom without was slowly lifted ; 
Brighter glowed the fire a moment, 
And a moment swerved the smoke-wreath, 
As two women entered softly, 
Passed the doorway uninvited, 55 

Without word of salutation. 
Without sign of recognition, 
Sat down in the farthest corner, 
Crouching low among the shadows. 

Prom their aspect and their garments 60 

Strangers seemed they in the village ; 
Very pale and liaggard were they, 
As they sat there sad and silent, 
Trembling, cowering with the shadows. 

Was it the wind above the smoke-flue, 65 

Muttering down into the wigwam ? 
Was it the owl, the Koko-koho, 
Hooting from the dismal forest ? 
Sure a voice said in the silence : 
" These are corpses clad in garments, 70 

These are ghosts that come to hgiunt you:^ 



192 THE SONG uF HIAWATHA 

From the kingdom of Ponemah, 
From the land of the Hereafter ! " 

Homeward now came Hiawatha 
From his hunting in the forest, 75 

With the snow upon his tresses, 
And the red deer on his shoulders. 
At the feet of Laughing Water 
Down he threw his lifeless burden ; 
Nobler, handsomer she thought him, 80 

Than when first he came to woo her, 
First threw down the deer before her, 
As a token of his wishes, 
As a promise of the future. 

Then he turned and saw the strangers, 85 

Cowering, crouching with the shadows. 
Said within himself, " Who are they ? 
What strange guests has Minnehaha ? '' 
But he questioned not the strangers. 
Only spake to bid them welcome 90 

To his lodge, his food, his fireside. 

When the evening meal was ready, 
And the deer had been divided. 
Both the pallid guests, the strangers, 
Springing from among the shadows, 95 

Seized upon the choicest portions, 
Seized the white fat of the roebuck, 



THE GHOSTS 193 

Set apart for Laughing Water, 

Eor the wife of Hiawatha ; 

Without asking, without thanking, loo 

Eagerly devoured the morsels, 

Flitted back among the shadows 

In the corner of the wigwam. 

Not a word spake Hiawatha, 
Not a motion made Nokomis, 105 

Not a gesture Laughing Water ; 
Not a change came o'er their features ; 
Only Minnehaha softly 
Whispered, saying, " They are famished ; 
Let them do what best delights them ; no 

Xet them eat, for they are famished." 

Many a daylight dawned and darkened, 
Many a night shook off the daylight 
As the pine shakes off the snow-flakes 
From the midnight of its branches; 115 

Day by day the guests unmoving 
Sat there silent in the wigwam ; 
But by night, in storm or starlight. 
Forth they went into the forest. 
Bringing fire-wood to the wigwam, 120 

Bringing pine-cones for the burning, 
Always sad and always silent. 

And whenever Hiawatha 



194 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Came from fishing or from hunting, 
When the evening meal was ready, 
And the food .had been divided, 
Gliding from their darksome corner, 
Came the pallid guests, the strangers, 
Seized upon the choicest portions 
Set aside for Laughing Water, 
And without rebuke or question 
Mitted back among the' shadows. 

Never once had Hiawatha 
By a word or look reproved them ; 
Never once had old Nokomis 
Made a gesture of impatience ; 
Never once had Laughing Water 
Shown resentment at the outrage. 
All had they endured in silence. 
That the rights of guest and stranger, 
That the virtue of free-giving. 
By a look might not be lessened, 
By a word might not be broken. 

Once at midnight Hiawatha, 
Ever wakeful, ever watchful, 
In the wigwam, dimly lighted 
By the brands that still were burning. 
By the glimmering, flickering firelight, 
Heard a sighing, oft repeated, 



THE GHOSTS 195 

Heard a sobbing, as of sorrow. 150 

From his couch rose Hiawatha, 
Erom his shaggy hides of bison, 
Pushed aside the deer-skin curtain. 
Saw the pallid guests, the shadows, 
Sitting upright on their conches, 155 

Weeping in the silent midnight. 

And he said : " guests ! why is it 
That your hearts are so afflicted, 
That you sob so in the midnight ? 
Has perchance the old Nokomis, 160 

Has my wife, my Minnehaha, 
Wronged or grieved yon by mikindness, 
Failed in hospitable duties ? " 

Then the shadows ceased from w^eeping. 
Ceased from sobbing and lamenting, 165 

And they said, with gentle voices, 
" We are ghosts of the departed. 
Souls of those who once were with you. 
From the realms of Chibiabos 
Hither have we come to try you, 170 

Hither have we come to warn yon. 

"Cries of grief and lamentation 
Eeach us in the Blessed Islands ; 
Cries of anguish from the living, 
Calling back their friends departed, 175 



196 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Sadden us with useless sorrow. 

Therefore have we come to try you ; 

No one knows us, no one heeds us. 

We are but a burden to you, 

And we see that the departed i8o 

Have no place among the living. 

" Think of this, Hiawatha ! 
Speak of it to all the people, 
That henceforward and forever 
They no more with lamentations 185 

Sadden the souls of the departed 
In the Islands of the Blessed. 

" Do not lay such heavy burdens 
In the graves of those you bury, 
Not such weight of furs and wampum, 190 

Not such weight of pots and kettles. 
For the spirits faint beneath them. 
Only give them food to carry, 
Only give them fire to light them. 

"Four days is the spirit's journey 195 

To the land of ghosts and shadows. 
Four its lonely night encampments ; 
Four times must their fires be hghted. 
Therefore, when the dead are buried, 
Let a fire, as night approaches, 200 

Four times on the grave be kindled. 



THE GHOSTS 197 

That the soul upon its journey 
May not lack the cheerful firelight, 
May not grope about in darkness. 

" Farewell, noble Hiawatha ! 205 

We have put you to the trial. 
To the proof have put your patience, 
By the insult of our presence. 
By the outrage of our actions. 
We have found you great and noble, 210 

Fail not in the greater trial, 
Faint not in the harder struggle." 

When they ceased, a sudden darkness 
Fell and filled the silent wigwam. 
Hiawatha heard a rustle 215 

As of garments trailing by him, 
Heard the curtain of the doorway 
Lifted by a hand he saw not, 
Felt the cold breath of the night air^ 
For a moment saw the starlight ; 220 

But he saw the ghosts no longer. 
Saw no more the wandering spirits 
From the kingdom of Ponemah, 
From the land of the Hereafter. 



XX 

THE FAMINE 

THE long and dreary Winter ! 
the cold and cruel Winter ! 
Ever thicker, thicker, thicker 
Eroze the ice on lake and river, 
Ever deeper, deeper, deeper 
Fell the snow o'er all the landscape, 
Eell the covering snow, and drifted- 
Through the forest, round the village. 

Hardly from his buried wigwam 
Could the hunter force a passage ; 
With his mittens and his snow-shoes 
Vainly walked he through the forest. 
Sought for bird or beast and found none, 
Saw no track of deer or rabbit, 
In the snow beheld no footprints, 
In the ghastly, gleaming forest 
Eell, and could not rise from weakness, 
Perished there from cold and hunger. 

the famine and the fever ! 



THE FAMINE 199 

the wasting of the famine ! 20 

the blasting of the fever ! 
the wailing of the children ! 

the anguish of the women ! 

All the earth was sick and famished ; 
Hungry was the air around them, 25 

Hungry was the sky above them, 
And the hungry stars in heaven 
Like the eyes of wolves glared at them ! 

Into Hiawatha's wigwam 
Came two other guests, as silent 30 

As the ghosts were, and as gloomy, 
Waited not to be invited. 
Did not parley at the doorway, 
Sat there without word of welcome 
In the seat of Laughing Water ; 35 

Looked with haggard eyes and hollow 
At the face of Laughing Water. 

And the foremost said : " Behold me ! 

1 am Famine, Bukadawin ! " 

And the other said : " Behold me ! 40 

I am Fever, Ahkosewin ! " 

And the lovely Minnehaha 
Shuddered as they looked upon her, 
Shuddered at the words they uttered, 
Lay down on her bed in silence, 45 



200 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Hid her face, but made no answer; 
Lay there trembling, freezing, burning 
^ At the looks they cast upon her, 
At the fearful words they uttered. 

Forth into the empty forest, 
E/Ushed the maddened Hiawatha; 
In his heart was deadly sorrow, 
In his face a stony firmness ; 
On his brow the sweat of anguish 
Started, but it froze and fell not. 

Wrapped in furs and armed for hunting, 
With his mighty bow of ash-tree, 
With his quiver full of arrows, 
With his mittens, Minjekahwun, 
Into the vast and vacant forest 
On his snow-shoes strode he forward. 

" Gitche Manito, the Mighty ! " 
Cried he with his face uplifted 
In that bitter hour of anguish, 
" Give your children food, father ! 
Give us food, or we must perish ! 
Give me food for Minnehaha, 
For my dying Minnehaha ! " 

Through the far-resounding forest. 
Through the forest vast and vacant 
Eang that cry of desolation, 



THE FAMINE 201 

But there came no other answer 
Than the echo of his crying, 
Than the echo of the woodlands, 
"Minnehaha! Minnehaha!" 75 

All day long roved Hiawatha 
In that melancholy forest. 
Through the shadow of whose thickets, 
In the pleasant days of Summer, 
Of that ne'er forgotten Summer, 80 

He had brought his young wife homeward 
From the land of the Dacotahs ; 
When the birds sang in the thickets, 
And the streamlets laughed and glistened, 
And the air was full of fragrance, 85 

And the lovely Laughing Water 
Said with voice that did not tremble, 
" I will follow you, my husband ! " 

In the wigwam with Nokomis, 
With those gloomy guests, that watched her, 90 
With the Famine and the Fever, 
She was lying, the Beloved, 
Sh^ the dying Minnehaha, 

" Hark ! " she said ; " I hear a rushing, 
Hear a roaring and a rushing, 95 

Hear the Falls of Minnehaha 
Calling to me from a distance ! " 



202 THE SONG OF HI AW AT B A 

" ISTo, my child ! " said old Nokomis, 

" 'T is the night-wind in the pine-trees ! " 

''Look ! " she said ; " I see my father loo 

Standing lonely at his doorway, 
Beckoning to me from his wigwam 
In the land of the Dacotahs ! " 
"No, my child ! " said old Nokomis, 
" 'T is the smoke that waves and beckons ! '^ 105 

" Ah ! " said she, " the eyes of Pauguk 
Glare upon me in the darkness, 
I can feel his icy fingers 
Clasping mine amid the darkness ! 
Hiawatha ! Hiawatha ! " no 

And the desolate Hiawatha, 
' Far away amid the forest. 

Miles away among the mountains, 

Heard that sudden cry of anguish, 

Heard the voice of Minnehaha 115 

Calling to him in the darkness, 

" Hiawatha ! Hiawatha ! " 

Over snow-fields w^aste and pathless 
Under snow-encumbered branches, 
Homeward hurried Hiawatha, 120 

Empty-handed, heavy-hearted. 
Heard Nokomis moaning, wailing : 
" Wahonowin ! Wahonowin ! 



THE FAMINE 203 

Would that I had perished for you, 

Would that I were dead as you are ! 125 

Wahonowin ! Wahonowin \ "• 

And he rushed into the wigwam, 
Saw the old ISTokomis slowly 
Kocking to and fro and moaning, 
Saw his lovely Minnehaha . 130 

Lying dead and cold before him. 
And his bursting heart within him 
Uttered such a cry of anguish, 
That the forest moaned and shuddered, 
That she very stars in heaven 135 

Shook and trembled with his anguish. 

Then he sat down, still and speechless, 
On the bed of Minnehaha, 
At the feet of Laughing Water, 
At those willing feet, that never 140 

More would lightly run to meet him, 
Never more would lightly follow. 

With both hands his face he covered, 
Seven long days and nights he sat there. 
As if in a swoon he sat there, 145 

Speechless, motionless, unconscious 
Of the daylight or the darkness. 

Then they buried Minnehaha ; 
In. the suow a grave they made her. 



204 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

In the forest deep and darksome. 
Underneath the moaning hemlocks ; 
Clothed her in her richest garments, 
Wrapped her in her robes of ermine ; 
Covered her with snow, like ermine, 
Thus they buried Minnehaha. 

An.d at night a fire was lighted, 
On her grave four times was kindled, 
For her soul upon its journey 
To the Islands of the Blessed. 
From his doorway Hiawatha 
Saw it burning in the forest. 
Lighting up the gloomy hemlocks ; 
From his sleepless bed uprising. 
From the bed of Minnehaha, 
Stood and watched it at the doorway. 
That it might not be extinguished. 
Might not leave her in the darkness. 

'^ Farewell ! " said he, " Miniiehaha ! 
Farewell, my Laughing Water ! 
All my heart is buried with you. 
All my thoughts go onward with you ! 
Come not back again to labor. 
Come not back again to suffer. 
Where the Famine and the Fever 
Wear the heart and waste the body. 



THE FAMINE 205 



Soon my task will be completed, 
Soon your footsteps I shall follow 
To tlie Islands of the Blessed, 
To the Kingdom of Ponemah, 
To the Land of the Hereafter ! " 



XXI 

THE WHITE man's FOOT 

In his lodge beside a river, 
Close beside a frozen river, 
Sat an old man, sad and lonely. - 
White his hair was as a snow-drift ; 
Dull and low his fire was burning, 
And the old man shook and trembled, 
Folded in his Waubewyon, 
In his tattered white-skin wrapper. 
Hearing nothing but the tempest 
As it roared along the forest, 
Seeing nothing but the snow-storm, 
As it whirled and hissed and drifted. 

All the coals were white with ashes. 
And the fire was slowly dying. 
As a young- man, walking lightly, 
At the open doorway entered. 
Eed with blood of youth his cheeks were, 
Soft his eyes, as stars in Spring-time, 
206 ^ 



THE WHITE MAN^S FOOT 207 

Bound his forehead was with grasses, 

Bound and plumed with scented grasses ; 2c 

On his lips a smile of beauty, 

Filling all the lodge with sunshine, 

In his hand a bunch of blossoms 

Filling all the lodge with sweetness. 

"Ah, my son!" exclaimed the old man, 2: 
" Happy are my eyes to see you. 
Sit here on the mat beside me, 
Sit here by the dying embers, 
Let us pass the night together, 
Tell me of your strange adventures, 3c 

Of the lands where you have travelled ; 
I will tell you of my prowess. 
Of my many deeds of wonder." 

From his pouch he drew his peace-pipe, 
Very old and strangely fashioned ; 3: 

Made of red stone was the pipe-head, 
And the stem a reed with feathers, 
Filled the pipe with bark of willow, 
Placed a burning coal upon it, 
Gave it to his guest, the stranger, 4< 

And began to speak in this wise : 

" When I blow my breath about me. 
When I breathe upon the landscape, 
Motionless are all the rivers. 



208 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Hard as stone becomes the water ! " 

And the young man answered, smiling: 
" When I blow my breath about me, 
When I breathe upon the landscape, 
Flowers spring up o'er all the meadows, 
Singing, onward rush the rivers ! " 

" When I shake my hoary tresses," 
Said the old man darkly frowning, 
" All the land with, snow is covered; 
All the leaves from all the branches 
Fall and fade and die and wither, 
For I breathe, and lo ! they are not. 
From the waters and the marshes 
Eise the wild goose and the heron, 
FI3'' away to distant regions, 
For I speak, and lo ! they are not. 
And where'er my footsteps wander. 
All the wild beasts of the forest 
Hide themselves in holes and caverns, 
And the earth becomes as flint-stone ! " 

" When I shake my flowing ringlets," 
Said the young man, softly laughing, 
" Showers of rain fall warm and welcome, 
Plants lift up their heads rejoicing. 
Back unto their lakes and marshes 
Come the wild goose and the heron, 



THE WHITE MAN'S FOOT 209 

Homeward shoots' the arrowy sw^allow, 

Sing the bluebird and the robin, 

And where'er my footsteps wander, 

All the meadows wave with blossoms, 

All the woodlands ring with music, 75 

All the trees are dark with foliage ! " 

While they spake, the night departed : 
From the distant realms of Wabun, 
From his shining lodge of silver, 
Like a warrior robed and painted, 80 

Came the sun, and said, " Behold me ! 
Gheezis, the great sun, behold me ! " 

Then the old man's tongue was speechless. 
And the air grew warm and pleasant. 
And upon the wigwam sweetly 85 

Sang the bluebird and the rohin, 
And the stream began to murmur. 
And a scent of growing grasses 
Through the lodge was gently wafted. 

And Segwun, the youthful stranger, 90 

More distinctly in the daylight 
Saw the icy face before him ; 
It- was Peboan, the Winter ! 

From his eyes the tears were flowing. 
As from melting lakes the streamlets, 95 

And his body shrunk and dwindled 



210 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

As the shouting sun ascended, 

Till into the air it faded, 

Till into the ground it vanished, 

And the young man saw before him, 

On the hearth-stone of the wigwam. 

Where the fire had smoked and smouldered. 

Saw the earliest flower of Spring-time, 

Saw the beauty of the Spring-time, 

Saw the Miskodeed in blossom. 

Thus it was that in the North-land 
After that unheard-of coldness. 
That intolerable Winter, 
Came the Spring with all its splendor. 
All its birds and all its blossoms. 
All its flowers and leaves and grasses. 

Sailing on the wind to northward. 
Flying in great flocks, like arrows. 
Like huge arrows shot through heaven, 
Passed the swan, the Mahnahbezee, i 

Speaking almost as a man speaks ; 
And in long lines waving, bending 
Like a bow-string snapped asunder. 
Came the white goose, Waw-be-wawa ; 
And in pairs or singly flying, ] 

Mahng the loon, with clangorous pinions. 
The blue heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah, 



THE WHITE MAN^S FOOT 211 

And the grouse, the Mushkodasa. 

In the thickets and the meadows 
Piped the bkiebird, the Owaissa, 125 

On the summit of the lodges 
Sang the robin, the Opechee, 
In the covert of the pine-trees 
Cooed the pigeon, the Omeme, 
And the sorrowing Hiawatha, 130 

Speechless in his infinite sorrow, 
Heard their voices calling to him, 
Went forth from his gloomy doorway, 
Stood and gazed into the heaven, 
Gazed upon the earth and waters. 135 

Prom his wanderings far to eastward, 
Prom the regions of the morning, 
Prom the shining land of Wabun, 
Homeward now returned lagoo. 
The great traveller, the great boaster, 140 

Pull of new and strange adventures, 
Marvels many and many wonders. 

And the people of the village 
Listened to him as he told them 
Of his marvellous adventures, 145 

Laughing answered him in this wise : 
"Ugh ! it is indeed lagoo ! 
No one else beholds such wonders ! '^ 



212 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

He had seen, he said, a water 
Bigger than the Big-Sea-Water, 150 

Broader than the Gitche Gumee, 
Bitter so that none could drink it ! 
At each other looked the warriors, 
Looked the women at each other. 
Smiled, and said, " It cannot be so ! 155 

Kaw ! " they said, " It cannot be so ! " 

O'er it, said he, o'er this water 
Came a great canoe with pinions, 
A canoe with wings came flying. 
Bigger than a grove of pine-trees, 160 

Taller than the tallest tree-tops ! 
And the old men and the women 
Looked and tittered at each other ; 
" Kaw ! " they said, " we don't believe it ! " 

From its mouth, he said, to greet him, 165 
Came Waywassimo, the lightning. 
Came the thunder, Annemeekee ! 
And the warriors and the women 
Laughed aloud at poor lagoo ; 
" Kaw ! " they said, " what tales you tell us ! " 170 

In it, said he, came a people. 
In the great canoe with pinions 
Came, he said, a hundred warriors ; 
Painted white were all their faces 



THE WHITE MAN^S FOOT 213 

And with, hair their chins were covered ! 175 

And the warriors and the women 

Laughed and shouted in derision, 

Like the ravens on the tree-tops, 

Like the crows upon the hemlocks, 

" Kaw ! " they said, " what lies you tell us ! 180 

Do not think that we believe them 1 " 

Only Hiawatha laughed not. 
But he gravely spake and answered 
To their jeering and their jesting : 
"True is all lagoo tells us ; 185 

I have seen it in a vision, 
Seen the great canoe with pinions, 
Seen the people with white faces. 
Seen the coming of this bearded 
People of the wooden vessel 190 

From the regions of the morning, 
From the shining land of Wabun. 

" Gitche Manito, the Mighty, 
The Great Spirit, the Creator,* 
Sends them hither on his errand, 195 

Sends them to us with his message. 
Wheresoever they move, before them 
Swarms the stinging fly, .the Alirao, 
Swarms the bee, the honey-maker; 
Wh.eresoe'er they tread, beneath them 200 



214 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Springs a flower unknown among us, 
Springs the White-man's Foot in blossom. 

" Let us welcome then the strangers, 
Hail them as our friends and brothers. 
And the heart's right hand of friendship 205 
Give them when they come to see us. 
Gitche Manito, the Mighty, 
Said this to me in my vision. 

" I beheld, too, in that vision 
All the secrets of the future, 210 

Of the distant days that shall be. 
I beheld the westward marches 
Of the unknown crowded nations. 
All the land was full of people, 
Eestless, struggling, toiling, striving, 215 

Speaking many tongues, yet feeling 
But one heart-beat in their bosoms. 
In the woodlands rang their axes, 
' Smoked their towns in all the valleys. 
Over all the lakes and rivers 220 

Kushed their great canoes of thunder. 

" Then a darker, drearier vision 
Passed before me, vague and cloudlike ; 
I beheld our nation scattered, 
All forgetful of my counsels, 225 

Weakened, warring with each other ; 



THE WHITE MAN^S FOOT 215 

Saw the remnants of our people 

Sweeping westward, wild and woful, 

Like the cload-rack of a tempest, 

Like the withered leaves of Autumn ! " 23c 



XXII 

Hiawatha's departure 

By the shore of Gitche Guinee, 
By the shining Big-Sea-Water, 
At the doorway of his wigwam, 
In the pleasant Summer morning, 
Hiawatha stood and waited. 
All the air was full of freshness, 
All the earth was bright and joyous, 
And before him through the sunshine. 
Westward toward the neighboring forest 
Passed in golden swarms the Ahmo, 
Passed the bees, the honey-makers. 
Burning, singing. in the sunshine. 

Bright above him shone the heavens, 
Level spread the lake before him ; 
Prom its bosom leaped the sturgeon, 
Sparkling, flashing in the sunshine ; 
On its margin the great forest 
Stood reflected in the water, 
Every tree-top had its shadow, 



HIAWATHA'S DEPARTURE 217 

Motionless beneath the water. 20 

From the brow of Hiawatha 
Gone was every trace of sorrow, 
As the fog from off the water, 
As the mist from off the meadow. 
With a smile of joy and triumph, 25 

With a look of exultation, 
As of one who in a vision 
Sees what is to be, but is not, 
Stood and waited Hiawatha. 

Toward the sun his hands were lifted, 30 

Both the palms spread out against it, 
And between the parted fingers 
Fell the sunshine on his features', 
Flecked with light his naked shoulders. 
As it falls and flecks an oak-tree 35 

Through the rifted leaves and branches. 

O'er the water floating, flying, 
Something in the hazy distance. 
Something in the mists of morning, 
Loomed and lifted from the water, 40 

Now seemed floating, now seemed flying, 
Coming nearer, nearer, nearer. 

Was it Shingebis the diver; 
Was it the pelican, the Shada ; 
Or the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah ? 45 



218 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Or the white goose, Waw-be-wawa, 
With the water dripping, flashing, 
From its glossy neck and feathers ? 

It was neither, goose nor diver, 
Neither pelican nor heron. 
O'er the water floating, flying, 
Through the shining mist of morning, 
But a birch canoe with paddles, 
Rising, sinking on the water. 
Dripping, flashing in the sunshine ; 
And within it came a people 
From the distant land of Wabun, 
From the farthest realms of morning 
Came the Black-Eobe chief, the Prophet, 
He the Priest of Prayer, the Pale-Face, 
"With his guides and his companions. 

And the noble Hiawatha, 
With his hands aloft extended. 
Held aloft in sign of welcome, 
Waited full of exultation. 
Till the birch canoe with paddles 
Grated on the shining pebbles. 
Stranded on the sandy margin, 
Till the Black-Robe chief, the Pale-Face, 
With the cross upon his bosom. 
Landed on the sandy margin. 



HIAWATHA'' S DEPARTURE 219 

Then the joyous Hiawatha 
Cried aloud and spake in this wise : 
" Beautiful is the sun, strangers, 
When you come so far to see us ! 75 

All our town in peace awaits you, 
All our doors stand open for you ; 
You shall enter all our wigwams, 
For the heart's right hand we give you. 

^^aSTever bloomed the earth so gay ly, 80 

Never shone the sun so brightly, 
As to-day they shine and blossom 
When you come so far to see us ! 
Never was our lake so tranquil, 
Nor so free from rocks and sand-bars ; 85 

For your birch canoe in passing 
Has removed both rock and sand-bar. 

" Never before had our tobacco 
Such a sweet and pleasant flavor. 
Never the broad leaves of our cornfields 90 

Were so beautiful to look on, 
As they seem to us this morning. 
When you come so far to see us ! " 

And the Black-Eobe chief made answer, 
Stammered in his speech a little, 95 

Speaking words yet unfamiliar : 
" Peace be with you, Hiawatha, 



220 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Peace be with you and your people, 
Peace of prayer, and peace of pardon, 
Peace of Christ and joy of Mary !" 

Then the generous Hiawatha 
Led the strangers to his wigwam, 
Seated them on skins of bison. 
Seated them on skins of ermine, 
And the careful, old Nokomis 
Brought them food in bowls of basswood. 
Water brought in birchen dippers. 
And the calumet, the peace-pipe. 
Filled and lighted for their smoking. 

All the old men of the village. 
All the warriors of the nation, 
All the Jossakeeds, the prophets. 
The magicians, the Wabenos, 
And the medicine-men, the Medas, 
Came to bid the strangers welcome ; 
^ " It is well," they said, " brothers. 
That you come so far to see us ! " 

In a circle round the doorway. 
With their pipes they sat in silence. 
Waiting to behold the strangers. 
Waiting to receive their message ; 
Till the Black-Eobe chief, the Pale-Face, 
From the wigwam came to greet them. 



HIAWATHA'S DEPARTURE 221 

Stammering in liis speech a little, 

Speaking words yet unfamiliar 5 125 

'•' It is well," they said, ^' brother, 

That you come so far to see us ! " 

Then the Black-Robe chief, the prophet, 
Told his message to the people, 
Told the purport of his mission, 130 

Told them of the Virgin Mary, 
And her blessed Son, the Saviour, 
How in distant lands and ages 
He had lived on earth as we do ; 
How he fasted, prayed, and labored ; 135 

How the Jews, the tribe accursed, 
Mocked him, scourged him, crucified him ; 
How he rose from where they laid him, 
AValked again with his disciples, 
And ascended into heaven. 140 

And the chiefs made answer, saying : 
" We have listened to your message. 
We have heard your words of wisdom. 
We will think on what you tell us. 
It is well for us, brothers, 145 

That you come so far to see us ! " 

Then they rose up and departed 
Each one homeward to his wigwam. 
To the young men and the women 



222 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

Told the story of the strangers 150 

Whom the Master of Life had sent them 
From the shining land of Wabun. 

Heavy with the heat and silence 
Grew the afternoon of Summer ; 
With a drowsy sound the forest 155 

Whispered round the sultry wigwam, 
With a sound of sleep the water 
Rippled on the beach below it ; 
Prom the cornfields shrill and ceaseless 
Sang the grasshopper, Pah-puk-keena ! 160 

And the guests of Hiawatha, 
Weary with the heat of Summer, 
Slumbered in the sultry wigwam. 

Slowly o'er the simmering landscape 
Fell the evening's dusk and coolness, 165 

And the long and level sunbeams 
Shot their spears into the forest, 
Breaking through its shields of shadow, 
Eushed into each secret ambush, 
Searched each thicket, dingle, hollow; 170 

Still the guests of Hiawatha 
Slumbered in the silent wigwam. 

From his place rose Hiawatha, 
Bade farewell to old Nokomis, 
Spake in whispers, spake in this wise, 175 



HIAWATHA'S DEPARTURE 223 

Did not wake the guests that slumbered : 

" I am going, jSTokomis, 
On a long and distant journey, 
To the portals of the Sunset, 
To the regions of the home-wind, i8o 

Of the Northwest wind, Keewaydin. 
But these guests I leave behind me, | 

In your watch and ward I leave them ; 
See that never harm comes near them, 
See that never fear molests them, 185 

Never danger nor suspicion, 
Never want of food or shelter, 
In the lodge of Hiawatha ! '' 

Forth into the village went he, 
Bade farewell to all the warriors, 190 

Bade farewell to all the young men. 
Spake persuading, spake in this wise : 

" I am going, my people. 
On a long and distant journey ; 
Many moons and many winters 195 

Will have come and will have vanished, 
Ere I come again to see you. 
But my guests I leave behind me ; 
Listen to their words of wisdom. 
Listen to the truth they tell you, 200 

For the Master of Life has sent them 



224 THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 

From the land of light and morning ! " 

On the shore stood Hiawatha, 
Turned and waved his hand at parting ; 
On the clear and luminous water 205 

Launched his birch canpe for sailing, 
Prom the pebbles of the margin 
Shoved it forth into the water ; 
Whispered to it, " Westward ! westward ! " 
And with speed it darted forward. 210 

And the evening sun descending 
Set the clouds on fire with redness, 
Burned the broad sky, like a prairie, 
Left upon the level water 

One long track and trail of splendor, 215 

Down whose stream as down a river, 
Westward, westward Hiawatha 
Sailed into the fiery sunset, 
Sailed into the purple vapors, 
Sailed into the dusk of evening. 220 

And the people from the margin 
Watched him floating, rising, sinking, 
Till the birch canoe seemed lifted 
High into that sea of splendor. 
Till it sank into the vapors 225 

Like the new moon slowly, slowly 
Sinking in the purple distance. 



HIAWATHA'S DEPARTURE 225 

And they said, -" Farewell forever ! " 
Said, " Farewell, Hiawatha ! " 
And the forests, dark and lonely, 230 

Moved through all their depths of darkness, 
Sighed, " Farewell, Hiawatha ! " 
And the waves upon the margin 
Rising, rippling on the pebbles, 
Sobbed, " Farewell, Hiawatha ! " 235 

And the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah, 
From her haunts among the fen-lands 
Screamed, " Farewell, Hiawatha ! " 

Thus departed Hiawatha, 
Hiawatha the Beloved, 240 

In the glory of the sunset, 
In the purple mists of evening, 
To the regions of the home-wind. 
Of the Northwest wind Keewaydin, 
To the Islands of the Blessed, 245 

To the kingdom of Ponemah, 
To the laud of the Hereafter !. 



NOTES 



INTEODUCTION 

The scene of the poem is laid among tlie Ojibway Indians, 
on the southern shore of Lake Superior, between the Pictured 
Eocks and the Grand Sable. 

The Pictured Rocks are a series of sandstone cliffs, three 
hundred feet in height, stretching for five miles along the shore 
of Lake Superior, in Alger County, about forty-five miles east 
of Marquette. They present a remarkable variety of form and 
color, and are diversified by a number of waterfalls. For further 
description, see Report on the Geology of Lake Superior Land 
District, Part II. Foster and Whitney. 

The Grand Sable is a name given to the great sand-dunes of 
Lake Superior. These dunes have a long reach of coast resem^ 
bling a vast sand- bank and have a height of more than three 
hundred and fifty feet, without a trace of vegetation. Report 
on the Geology of Lake Superior Land District, Part II. 

I. THE PEACE-PIPE 

Line 1. The mountains of the prairie, coteau des prairie 
(ko'to da pra'ri), an elevated region or swell in the prairies of 
Dakota, separating the basin of the Mississippi from the basin 

227 



228 NOTES 

of the Missouri. It commences about the parallel of 46° N. lat. , 
between the meridians of 98° and 99° W. Ion., and extends 
S.S.E. two hundred miles to the head of Blue Earth River, 
where it gradually falls to the level of the surrounding country. 
1. 2. Red Pipe-stone Quarry. This quarry is situated in 
Pipestone County, in southwestern Minnesota. Here is found 
the red catlinite, a red clay-stone, used by the North American 
Indians for making pipes. By common consent the territory 
adjacent to the quarry was long a neutral ground, so that even 
hostile tribes might meet here to secure the gift of the Great 
Spirit. Afterward, the Sioux monopolized the territory, and 
other tribes could secure the stone only by barter. These mines 
are still owned and worked by the Indians. The stone is named 
for George Catlin, the American traveller. 

I. 3. Gitche Manito. The Great Spirit. The idea of God 
was associated with Gitche Manito through the teachings of the 
Jesuit missionaries. "In no Indian language could the early 
missionaries find a word to express the idea of God. Even 
when he, the Indian, borrows from Christianity the idea of a 
Supreme and Universal Spirit, his tendency is to reduce Him 
to a local habitation and a bodily shape ; and this tendency 
disappears only in tribes that have been long in contact with 
civilized white men. The primitive Indian, yielding his untu- 
tored homage to the One all-pervading and Omnipotent Spirit, 
is a dream of poets, rhetoricians, and sentimentalists." 

II. 23-24. Bark of willow. The bark of the red willow was 
sometimes used alone for smoking. Sometimes it was mixed 
with the tobacco, the Indians thinking the flavor of the latter 
improved by the mixture. 

1. 30. Calumet. A large pipe, commonly called by the 



NOTES 229 

whites the pipe of peace, or the calumet, has always l:)een a 
favorite article in the negotiation of treaties and the enter- 
tainment of strangers. The meaning was the same in all cases. 
It was an exchange and pledge of faith between the parties who 
joined in the smoking. In all parts of the country the calumet 
was much larger and handsomer than the ordinary pipe. — 
B. B. Thatcher, Indian Traits, p. 186. See also Schoolcraft's 
Notes on the Iroquois, p. 239, and Catlin's Life among the 
Indians, p. 82. 

11. 32-42. Probably the haze of Indian summer. 

11. 60-65. Representative Indian tribes. The locations, given 
in the vocabulary, are taken from the Century Dictionary to 
which the reader is referred for a fuller account of the names 
and movements of the tribes. 

11. 116-123. The prophecy of Hiawatha's coming. 

II. THE FOUR WINDS 

I. 4. Wampum. Small shell beads, pierced and strung, 
used as money and for ornament by the North American 
Indians. All compacts were confirmed by the delivery of a 
-string or belt of wampum. On occasions of great importance, 
the devices of the belts were suggestive of the substance of the 
compacts. The keeping of the wampum belts, the national 
records, was given to one or more old men of the tribe, whose 
duty it was to remember and interpret their meaning. See also 
Century Dictionary , the New International Encyclox>(Bdia, and 
Parkman's Jesuits in North America, Introduction. 

II. 45-47. An Indian hunter was always anxious to propi- 
tiate the animal he sought to kill. He has often been known 



230 NOTES 

to address a wounded bear in a long harangue of apology. — 
Parkman. 

11. 123-128. This translation and union is somewhat similar 
to that of Perseus and Andromeda of Greek mythology. 

1. 153. The story of Shingebis and Kabibonokka is an Ojib- 
way legend. Schoolcraft relates it in his The Indian in his 
Wigwam^ p. 85. 

I. 237. Here we have another reference to the Indian sum- 
mer, caused by the sighs of Shawondasee. ^ . 

A 

III. HIAWATHA'S CHILDHOOD 

II. 64-65. The shores of Gitche Gumee. See note on Intro- 
duction. 

1. 76. Linden cradle. The Indian cradle is an object of great 
pride with the Indian mother. In the lodges of those who can 
afford it, there is no article more showy than the full, round 
cradle. The frame is itself a curiosity. It consists of three 
pieces, — the vertebral board which supports the back, the hoop, 
or foot-board, which extends tapering up each side, and the 
arch, or bow, which springs from each side and protects the face 
and head. These are tied together with deer sinews or pegged. 
The whole structure is very light, and is carved with a knife by 
the men out of the linden or maple tree. Moss constitutes the 
bed of the infant. — Schoolcraft, Tlie Indian in his Wigwam. 

1. 90. Death-Dance of the spirits. Probably the Northern 
Lights, or Aurora Borealis. 

1. 94. The broad, white road in heaven. The Milky Way. 

1. 111. Wah-wah-taysee. The original of this song and 
the literal translation is found in The Indian in his Wigwam, 
Schoolcraft, p. 230. 



NOTES 231 

1. 159. lagoo. The Baron Munchausen or Jack Falstaff of 
our written literature. For some of his wonderful stories, see 
"lagoo," Hiawatha Legends, p. 85. 

1. 164. Their arrows are well made, barbed with iron, flint, 
or bone, and feathered. They are from two to two and one 
half feet long. — B. B. Thatcher. 

1. 229. The drying or curing of the skins is done by the 
women mostly. An Indian may bring in a deer in the morn- 
ing, and before bedtime his wife will have some moccasins made 
from the skin. 

1. 231. For description of an Indian feast, see Parkman's 
Jesuits in North America, Introduction. 

IV. HIAWATHA AND MUDJEKEEWIS 

I. 233. Keewaydin, the Northwest. Called the Home 
Wind. 

II. 239-244. "The northern Indians," says Schoolcraft, "are 
in the habit of making frequent allusions to Manabozho and his 
exploits. 'There,' said a young Chippewa, pointing to some 
huge boulders of greenstone, ' are pieces of the rock broken off 
in Manabozho's contest with his father. This is the duck 
that Manabozho kicked. Under that rock Manabozho lost a 
beaver.' " 

1.257. Falls of Minnehaha. The name "Minnehaha" 
(Sioux, Mini-haha, laughing water) is borne by a picturesque 
cascade, about fifty feet high, in the Minnehaha River, a small 
stream flowing into the Mississippi at Minneapolis, Minnesota, 
This name is given to the heroine. Thus the hero has an Iro- 
quois name, the heroine a Sioux name, while the poem itself is 
based upon Ojibway legends. 



232 NOTES 



V. HIAWATHA'S FASTING 

11. 9-15. Connected with the belief of Indians relating to 
spirits is a curious custom which Mr. Hecke welder, who ob- 
served it among all the tribes with which he was acquainted, 
calls the ' ' initiation of boys. ' ' The main thing was to take 
them to the woods and there shut them up close, day and 
night, for some weeks in a pen made for this purpose, with lat- 
tice wire so as to admit a free passage of air. During this time 
no sustenance was allowed them but a decoction of certain 
herbs and roots. These perhaps had an intoxicating quality, 
but at all events the effect of the whole process was to ren- 
der the patients stark and staring mad for the time. — B. B. 
Thatcher, Traits of the Indians. The hallucinations of this 
time are taken as divine inspiration, and thus have a great 
influence upon the future career. The discipline is also sup- 
posed to blot out from the mind of the young warrior the, 
prejudice and follies of his childhood, and to fit him for acting 
a dignified and energetic part in his tribe. See also Parkman's 
Jesuits in North America. 

1. 270. Mondamin. The Spirit's grain or berry. " The 
Ojibway Algonquins liE^ve a pretty story, in which the stalk in 
full tassel is represented as descending from the sky, under the 
guise of a handsome youth, in answer to the prayers of a young 
man at his fast of virility, or coming to manhood." . The legend 
refers, of course, to the settling of the tribes, when, instead 
of depending upon "these things," they receive Mondamin, — 
Indian corn, — the gift of the Great Spirit. Schoolcraft calls 
this the Cereal Allegory of the West. He says the Indian is 
here taught that transformation can be effected only by labor 



NOTES 233 

and perseverance. There is much beauty of fancy in describing 
the change. It is to be regretted that the savage does not seem 
to profit more by tlie lesson it inculcates. 

VI. HIAWATHA'S FRIENDS 

II. 6-7. Chibiabos and Kwasind. These two friends of Hia- 
watha, with lagoo, the great story-teller, present a fine trio, 
representing history and literature, music and poetry, and per- 
fect physical development. 

1. 84. His Manito. " Each primitive Indian has his guardian 
manitou which counsels and protects him. This manito, beast, 
bird, or other object, animate or inanimate, appears to him in 
dreams during his fast. He thenceforth wears about him some 
portion of the object revealed in his dream, and this is called his 
' medicine.' " 

VII. HIAWATSA'S SAILING 

1. 6. Cheemaun. The tribes of the northern lakes build their 
canoes wholly of birch bark, with a little soft wood and pine 
gum, or boiled pitch, without a nail or bit of metal of any kind 
to confine the parts. The entire outside is bark. Where the 
edges of it come together at the bottom or along the sides, 
they are sewed very closely with a sort of vegetable thread 
called " wattap," made of roots, and the seam is plastered over 
with gum. — B. B. Thatcher, Indian Traits. See also New 
International Encyclop(Edia. 

VIII. HIAWATHA'S FISHING 

1. 121. This legend reminds us of the Jewish story of Jonah, 
and the Norse story of Thor's fishing. 



234 NOTES 



IX. HIAWATHA AND THE PEAEL-FEATHER 

11. 109-111. The Indians lighted a fire on the grave for four 
nights after the burial of a body, that being the time required 
for the journey to the Spirit-land. The Spirit must gather his 
own fuel and make his own fire if the duty was neglected by 
the friends, thus delaying him on his journey. 

X. HIAWATHA'S WOOING 

. I. 90. Mats of flags and rushes. Everywhere east of the 
Mississippi beautiful mats were woven from grass and rushes, 
and stained in bright colors from native dyes. 

1. 139. Wigwam made of deer-skin. " The wigwam is gen- 
erally of conical shape and formed of bark or mats, or now 
most often of skins, laid over poles, called lodge-poles, stacked 
on the ground and converging at the top, where is left an open- 
ing for the escape of smoke." 

XI. HIAWATHA'S WEDDING-FEAST 

1. 1. Pau-Puk-Keewis. The Indian idea is that of a harum- 
scarum. He is regarded as a foil to Manabozho, with whom he 
is frequently brought into contact in aboriginal storycraft. — 
Schoolcraft. 

1. 16. Pots, bowls, mortars, and pestles were fashioned 
from stone. Arrow-heads, knives, skin-dressers, sewing-awls, 
and fishing-hooks were frequently made from bone. Mortars, 
bowls, clubs, masks, and sacred images for ceremonial occasions 
were made of wood, 

1. 31. Pemican. "Originally a preparation made by North 



NOTES ' 235 

American Indians, consisting of the lean parts of venison dried 
by the sun or wind, and then pounded into a paste, with melted 
fat, and tightly pressed into cakes. It is now made of beef, 
especially for use in Arctic expeditions, being an easily preserved 
food, which keeps for a long time and contains the largest 
amount of nutriment in the smallest space.'" 

I. 32. Buffalo marrow. Catlin says, " At a feast, chunks of 
this marrow-fat are cut off and placed in a tray or bowl with 
the pemican, and eaten together, forming a very good substitute 
for butter." 

II. 36-41. At an Indian feast the hosts did not partake of 
the food, but occupied themselves in serving the guests. 

1. 61. Beggar's Dance. This may be the Begging Dance 
described in Indian Traits^ by B. B. Thatcher, p. 52. 

1. 65. Pugasaing, the Bowl and Counters. This is the princi- 
pal game of hazard among the northern tribes. It is played with 
thirteen pieces hustled in a kind of wooden bowl. The game 
is very fascinating to some portions of the Indians. They sta.ke 
at it their ornaments, weapons, clothing, canoes, horses, every- 
thing, in fact, that they possess ; and have been known, it is 
said, to set up their wives and children. Of such desperate 
stakes I have seen no examples, nor do I think the game in 
common use. It is confined, rather, to certain persons who 
hold the relative rank of gamblers in Indian society — men who 
are not noted as hunters or warriors, or steady providers for 
their families. — Schoolcraft, The Indian in his Wigwam^ 
pp. 188-190. Here is found a further description of the game, 
with crude illustrations of the thirteen pieces. It is suggested 
that pupils make these pieces according to their own conceptions 
received from the poem. Then, if desirable, compare them 



236 NOTES 

with those given by Schoolcraft. Descriptions of this game and 
also of the game of Plum-stones are given in Parkman's Jesuits 
in North America. 

11. 109-118. Thus the sand-dunes of Lake Superior, or Nagow 
Wudjoo, are caused by the mad dance of Pau-Puk-Keewis. 

11. 151, 156, 160. The Indian year consisted of thirteen 
moons, each designated' by a descriptive name, as the Moon 
of StrawberTies, June. 

I. 141. Littell's Living Age, Vol. XXV., p. 45, gives the 
original of this song. 

II. 230-240. Story-telling is one of the principal amusements 
of the long winter evenings among the Indians. But the tales 
must not be told in summer; since at that season, when all 
nature is full of life, the spirits are awake, and hearing what is 
said of them may take offence ; whereas in winter they are fast 
sealed up in ice and snow, and no longer capable of listening. 

XII. THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR 

This is a neat allegory and has a new interest in the associa- 
tion it gives to the name of Michilimackinac, or Mackinac, that 
island of the Lakes so picturesque, so full of romantic tradition, 
so marked by freaks of nature. — Schoolcraft. 

1. 3, The Red Swan. Three brothers one day agreed that 
each was to go out and kill the animal he habitually hunted. 
Ojibwa, the youngest, had killed a bear and was beginning to 
skin it when suddenly the air around him was suffused with 
wonderful red light. He heard strange noises, and following 
these saw a beautiful red swan in a lake. Having shot all of his 
arrows at it in vain, he went home and got three magic arrows 



I 



NOTES 237 

left by his father. With the last of these he wounded the bird, 
which then flew away. He followed it, encountering many ad- 
ventures on the way. The Red Swan he found to be the 
beautiful daughter of a magician, and he at last won her for his 
bride by recovering her father's cap of wampum from his 
enemies. 

This story may be found in full in The Indian Fairy Book 
compiled from Schoolcraft's manuscripts. 

I. 289. The Island of Michilimackinac, or Mackinac, in the 
Straits of Mackinac. 

XIII. BLESSING THE CORNFIELDS 

II. 25-31. It is well known that corn-planting and corn- 
gathering, at least among all the still uncolonized tribes, are 
left entirely to the females and children and a few super- 
annuated old men. It is not generally known, perhaps, that 
this labor is not compulsory, and that it is assumed by the 
females as a just equivalent, in their view, for the onerous and 
continuous labor of the other sex in providing meats, and skins 
for clothing, by the chase, and in defending their villages against 
their enemies and keeiDing intruders off their territories. A 
good Indian housewife deems this a part of lier prerogative, and 
prides herself to have a store of corn to exercise her hospitality, 
or duly honor her husband's hospitality, in the entertainment of 
the lodge guests. — Schoolcraft, The Indian in his Wigvmm, 
p. 179. 

11. 36-65. A singular proof of this belief, in botb sexes, of 
the mysterious influence of the steps of a woman on the vege- 
table and insect creation, is found in an ancient custom which 



238 NOTES 

was related to me respecting corn-planting. It was tlie practice 
of the hunter's wife, when the field of corn had been planted, 
to choose the first dark or over-clouded evening to perform a 
secret circuit, sans habillement, around the field. For this pur- 
pose, she slipped out of the lodge in the evening, unobserved, 
to some obscure nook, where she completely disrobed. Then 
taking her matchecota, or principal garment, in one hand, she 
dragged it around the field. This was thought to insure a 
prolific crop, and to prevent the assault of insects and worms 
upon the grain. It was supposed they could not creep over the 
charmed line. — Schoolcraft, 77^6 Indian in his Wigwam. 

1. 226. Wagemin. The literal meaning of the term is a 
mass or crooked ear of grain ;- but the ear of corn so called is 
a conventional type of a little old man pilfering ears of corn 
in a corn-field. This term is taken as the basis of the cereal 
chorus or corn song as sung by the Northern Algonquin tribes. 
It is coupled with the phrase Paimosaid from the verb pimosa 
to walk. The ideas conveyed are he who walks at night to 
pilfer corn. — Schoolcraft, The Indian in his Wigwam. 

XIV. PICTURE-WRITING 

To serve in some degree the purpose of writing, the Indians 
have a very ingenious system of hieroglyphics, not indeed 
arranged by any rule of science, but suggested by necessity 
and common sense. For example, on a piece of bark or on a 
large tree from which the bark has been removed for the pur- 
pose, by the side of a path, they can and do give every neces- 
sary information to those who travel the same way. They will 
in that manner let them know that they were a war-party of so 



NOTES 239 

many men, from such a place, of such a nation, etc., all of which 
is perfectly well understood by them at a single glance. — B. B. 
Thatcher, Indian Traits. 

11. 7-10, The priests formed societies of different grades of 
illumination, only to be entered by those willing to undergo 
trying ordeals, whose secrets were not to be revealed under the 
severest penalties. The Algonquins had three such grades, 
the wabeno, the meda, and the jossakeed, the last being the 
highest. 

, 1. 23. Totem. "Among the Indians of North America a 
natural object, usually an animal, assumed as the token or 
emblem of a clan or family. The representation of the totem 
borne by an individual was often painted or figured in some 
way upon the skin itself, and upon his garments, utensils, etc." 

XV. HIAWATHA'S LAMENTATION 

I. 91. Sacred Lodge. The doctor often consulted the spirits 
to learn the cause and cure of the disease by a method peculiar 
to that family of tribes. He shut himself in a small conical 
lodge, and the spirits here visited him, manifesting their pres- 
ence by a violent shaking of the whole structure. — Parkman". 

II. 96-97. The great knowledge of roots and herbs for the 
cure of disease popularly ascribed to the Indian is unwarranted. 
The apparent efficacy of the application was due, no doubt, to 
purity of blood as well as to their active habits. 

XVI. PAU-PUK-KEEWIS 

1. 28. Ojeeg. A group of stars in the northern hemisphere is 
called, by the Ojibways, Ojeeg Annung or the Fisher Stars, It 



240 NOTES 

is believed to be identical with the group of the Plough. — 
Schoolcraft, Algic Besearches. 

XYIL THE HUNTING OF TAU-PUK-KEEWIS 

We are here reminded of the Hunting of Loki, the Norse 
Spirit of mischief. 

XVIII. THE DEATH OE KWASIND 

I. 5. Puk-Wudjies. Hosts of a small fairy like creation, 
called Ininees, little men, or Puk-wudj Ininees, vanishing little 
men, inhabit cliffs and picturesque romantic scenes. — School- 
craft, Hiawatha Legends, Introduction. Also p. 90. 

II. 20-21. Nee-ba-naw-baigs. Another class of marine or 
water-spirits, called Nebunnabaigs, occupy the rivers and lakes. 
There is an articulate voice in all varied sounds of the forests. 
Local manitos inhabit every grove, and hence the Indian is 
never alone. — Schoolcraft, Hiawatha Legends^ Introduction. 

11. 28-33. Kwasind has but one vulnerable spot, like the 
Greek Achilles. 

11. 35-42. Like the Norse Baldur who could be harmed by 
the mistletoe only. 

I. 105. Ever since this victory the Puk-wudj Ininee have made 
that point of rock a favorite resort. The hunters often hear 
them laugh and see their little plumes shake as they pass this 
scene on light summer evenings, — Schoolcraft, Hiawatha 
Legends. 

XIX. THE GHOSTS 

II. 50-59. It was a custom among the Indians to allow any 
one, friend, stranger, or enemy, to walk into the lodge, rest, and 
eat. Thus sacred did they hold the duties of hospitality. 



NOTES 241 

11. 195-204. Among the Chippewas of the North there is a 
custom to light a fire at niglit upon a newly inacle grave. This 
fire is renewed during four nights. Fire in their minds is 
regarded in some manner as we should view the opening of a 
door into the spiritual world. It is believed that its symbolical 
light is thus thrown on the path of the deceased to guide its 
footsteps through the darkling way to the land of the dead. — 
Drake, Indian Tribes of the United States. 

XXI. THE WHITE MAN'S FOOT 

1. 186. The gift of prophecy enables Hiawatha to foretell the 
coming of the white man. Many Indian tribes are said to have 
believed in the coming of a white race, notably the Mexicans, 
and Peruvians. 

XXII. HIAWATHA'S DEPARTUKE 

I. 59. Black-Robe was the Indian name for a Jesuit mission- 
ary, suggested by his clothing. Indian names generally are of 
this character ; as, Crooked Hand and Plat Mouth. 

II. 71-93. Marquette and his company visited the Algonquins 
in 1673. They were well received in a manner meant to do 
them honor. The chief stood stark naked at the door of a 
large wigwam, holding up both hands as if to shield his eyes. 
Frenchmen, how bright the sun shines when you come to visit 
us ! All our village awaits you ; and you shall enter our wig- 
wams in peace. So saying, he led them to his own wigwam, 
— Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West. 



PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF 
PROPER NAMES 



Ad ji dau'mo, the red squirrel. 

Ahdeek', the reindeer. 

Ahko se'win, fever. 

Ah meek', the King of Beavers. 

Ah'mo, the bee. 

Algon'quin, Algon'kin, a col- 
lective term for a group of 
tribes of North American 
Indians of the valleys of 
the Ottawa River and of the 
northern tributaries of the 
St. Lawrence to near Quebec. 
— Century Dictionary. 

An ne me'kee, the thunder. 

A prik' wa, a bulrush. 

Bainiwa'wa, the sound of 

thunder. 
Be mah'gut, the grape vine. 
Be'na, the pheasant. 



Big-Sea-Water, Lake Superior. 
Black'feet, a tribe of North 

American Indians. 
Bu ka da'win, a famine. 

Ca man'ches, a tribe of North 
American Indians formerly 
neighbors of the Shoshoni in 
Wyoming. 

Ghee maun', a birch canoe. 

Chet o walk', the plover. 

-Ghi bi a'bos, a musician; friend 
of Hiawatha ; ruler in the 
Land of Spirits. 

Choc'taws, a tribe of North 
American Indians whose 
chief habitat in prehistoric 
times was the middle and 
north of Mississippi valley. 

Crows, a tribe of the Hidatsa 



243 



244 PRONOUNCING 


VO<JABULARY 


division of Nortli American 


Fox'es, a tribe of North Amer- 


Indians, now on tlie Crow 


ican Indians, first found in 


reservation in Montana. 


Wisconsin, extending to 




Lake Superior. 


Daco'tah, a division of the 




Siouan stock of Nortli Amer- 


Ghee'zis, Gee'zis, the sun. 


ican Indians. Tliis refer- 


Git'che Gu'mee, the Big-Sea- 


ence is probably to tlie 


Water, Lake Superior. 


Sioux. 


Git'che Man'ito, the Great 


Da lim'da, tlie bullfrog. 


Spirit ; the Master of Life. 


Dead Man's Moccasin Leather, 


Gush ke wau', the darkness. 


a fungus. 




Del 'a wares, a division of North 


Hi auha', hio ha'. 


American Indians. They 


Hi a wa'tha, the prophet ; the 


formerly occupied the valley 


teacher; son of Mudjekee- 


of the Delaware River in 


wis, the West-Wind, and 


Pennsylvania, and the 


Wenonah, daughter of No- 


greater part of New Jersey 


komis. (Longfellow is said 


and Delaware. 


to have used He a wa'tha.) 


Dush kwo ne'she or Kwone'- 


Hu'rons, a tribe of North Amer- 


she, the dragon-fly. 


ican Indians. When first 




known, they occupied a nar- 


E'sa, shame upon you. 


row territory between Geor- 


Es CO na'ba, a river in north- 


gian Bay and Lake Simcoe 


ern Michigan. 


in Ontario. Later they 


Evening Star, Venus. 


spread along the south and 


E wa ye a', a lullaby. 


west shores of Lake Erie. 


Face-in-a-Mist, nephew of 


I a'goo (Ea'goo), a great 


lagoo. 


boaster and story-teller. 



PRO NO UNCING VOCAB ULA R Y 



24o 



I nin'e wug, men or pawns in 

the Game of the Bowl. 
Ishkoodah', fire ; a comet. 

Jee'bi, a ghost ; a spirit. 
Joss'a keed, a prophet. 

Ka'be yun, the West- Wind. 

Kji bi bo nok'ka, the North- 
Wind. 

Kagh, the hedgehog. 

Ka'go, do not. 

Kali gah gee', the raven. 

Kaw, no. 

Ka ween', no indeed. 

Kay oshk', the sea-gull. 

Kee'go, a fish. 

Kee way'din, the Northwest- 
Wind; the Home-Wind. 

Ken a'beek, a serpent. 

Keneu (kenu'), a great war- 
eagle. 

Ken o'zha, the pickerel. 

Ko'ko-ko'ho, the owl. 

Kun tas soo', the Game of 
Plum-stones. 

Kwa'sind, the Strong Man. 

Kwo-ne'she or Dush-kwo-ne'- 
she, the dragon-fly. 



Mahnah be'zee, the swan. 

Mahng, the loon. 

Mahn-go-tay'see, loon-hearted ; 
brave. 

Mah no mo'nee, wild rice. 

Ma'ma, the woodpecker. 

Man'dans, one of the Siouan 
divisions of North American 
Indians. 

Man'i to, Guardian Spirit. 

Mas ken o'zha, the pike. 

Me'da, a medicine-man. 

Me da'min, the art of healing. 

Mee nah'ga, the blueberry. 

Meg is sog'won, the great Pearl- 
Feather, a magician, and the 
Manito of Wealth. 

Mesh i nau'wa, a pipe-bearer. 

Min je kah'wiin, Hiawatha's 
mittens. 

Min ne ha'ha, Laughing Water ; 
a waterfall on a stream run- 
ning into the Mississippi be- 
tween Port Snelling and the 
Palls of St. Anthony. 

Min ne ha'ha, Laughing Water ; 
wife of Hiawatha. 

Min ne wa'wa, a pleasant 
sound, as of the wind in 
the trees. 



246 



PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 



Mis he Mo'kwa, the Great 
Bear. 

Mish e Nah'ma, the Great Stur- 
geon, King- of Fishes. 

Mis ko deed', the Spring 
Beauty ; the Claytonia 
Virginica. 

Mis sis sip'pi Eiver, the largest 
river of North America. 

Mitche Man'ito, the Spirit of 
Evil. 

Mo'hawks, a tribe of North 
American Indians. Their 
villages were along the Mo- 
hawk River, New York, but 
they claimed vast territory 
to the north and south. 

Mon da'min, Indian corn. 

Moon of Bright Nights, April. 

Moon of Leaves, May. 

Moon of Strawberries, June. 

Moon of Falling Leaves, Sep- 
tember. 

Mountains of the Prairie, Go- 
teau des Prairie (ko'to da 
pra'ri). 

MM je kee'wis, the West- 
Wind, father of Hiawatha. 

Mud way-aush'ka, the sound of 
waves on a shore. 



Mush ko da'sa, the grouse. 
Mus'ko day, the meadow. 

Na'gow Wudj'o, the Sand 
Dunes of Lake Superior. 

Nah'ma, the sturgeon. 

Nah ma-wusk', the spearmint. 

Naked Bear, the "Great Bear 
of the mountains," the bug- 
bear among the Indians. 

Na wa da 'ha, the singer. 

Nee-ba-naw'baigs, water spirits. 

Ne ne moo'sha, sweetheart. 

Ne pah'win, sleep. 

Noko'mis, a grandmother; 
mother of Wenonah. 

No'sa, my father. 

Nush'ka, look ! look ! 

O dah'min, the strawberry. 

O jeeg', the Summer-Maker. 

O 3 lb' ways, or Cliip'pe was, a 
large tribe of North Ameri- 
can Indians. Their former 
range was along Lakes Hu- 
ron and Superior, and ex- 
tended west across northern 
Minnesota to the Turtle 
Mountains of North Dakota. 

O ka hah'wis, the fresh- water 
herring. 



PRONOUNCING VOCAB ULARY 



247 



O'ma has, a tribe of North 

American Indians now in 

eastern Nebraska. 
O me'me, the pigeon. 
na'gon, a bowl. 
On away', awake. 
O pe'chee, the robin. 
Os se'o, Son of the Evening 

Star. 
O wais' sa, the bluebird. 
wee nee', wife of Osseo. 
O za wa'beek, a round piece of 

brass or copper in the Game 

of the Bowl. 

Pah-piik-kee'na, the grasshop- 
per. 

Paimosaid' (prmosed'),athief 
of cornfields. 

Pau'giik, Death. 

Pau-puk-kee'wis, the hand- 
some Yenadizze, the Storm 
Fool. 

Pan wa'ting, Sault Sainte 
Marie. 

Pawnees', a confederacy of 
North American Indians. 
Its habitat was formerly in 
Nebraska and Kansas. 

Pearl-Feather, the magician ; 



manito of wealth and wam- 
pum. 
Pe'boan, Winter. 
Pem'ican, meat of the deer or 

buffalo dried and pounded. 
Pezhekee', the bison. 
Pish ne kuh', the brant. 
Pone'mah, the land of the 

Hereafter. 
Pugasaing', Game of the 

Bowl. 
Piig ga wau'gun, a war club. 
Pukwa'na, the smoke of the 

Peace-Pipe. 
Puk-Wudj'ies, pygmies ; little 

wild men of the woods. 

Red Pipe-stone Quarry, lo- 
cated in Pipestone County, 
in southwestern Minnesota. 

Rocky Mountains, the most im- 
portant mountain system in 
North America. 

Sah-sah-je'wiin, rapids. 

Sah'wa, the perch. 

Seb wish 'a, the brook. 

Seg wiin'. Spring. 

Sha'da, the pelican. 

Shah bo'min, the gooseberry. 



248 



PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 



Shah-shah, long ago. 

Shau go da'ya, a coward. 

Shawgashee', the craw-fish. 

Sha won da'see, the South- 
Wind. 

Shaw-shaw, the swallow. 

3hesh'eb wug, ducks ; pieces in 
the Game of the Bowl. 

Shiii'ge bis, the diver or grebe. 

Sho'shon ies, the most north- 
erly division of the Shosho- 
nean stock of North Ameri- 
can Indians. The Snake 
Eiver region of Idaho was 
their chief seat. 

Sho wain' ne me'shin, pity me. 

Shuh-shuh'gah, the blue heron. 

Soan ge ta'ha, strong-hearted. 

Sub be ka'she, the spider. 

Sugge'ma (stije'ma), the mos- 
quito. 

Tam'ar ack, the larch tree. 

Taquame'naw, a river in 
northeastern Michigan. 

Tawasen'tha, Vale of, in Al- 
bany County, New York, 
Now called Norman's Kill. 

To'tem, family coat-of-arms 
among the Indians. 



Tus ca loo'sa (tiis ka loo'sa) , 
Grove of, a part of Alabama, 
so named from a chief de- 
feated by De Soto in 1540. 

ygh, yes. 

U gud wash', tlie sunfish. 

Unk ta hee', the God of Water. 



Wa bas'so, the rabbit ; the 
North. 

Wa be'no, a magician ; a jug- 
gler. 

Wa be'no-wiisk, yarrow. 

Wa'biin, the East- Wind. 

AVa'bun An'nung, the Star of 
the East, the Morning Star. 

Wa'ge min, the thief of corn- 
fields. 

Waho no'mm, a cry of lamen- 
tation. 

Wah-wah-tay'see, the firefly. 

Wam'pum, beads of shell. 

Wau be wy'on, a white skin 
wrapper. 

Wa'wa, the wild goose. 

Waw'beek, a rock. 

Waw-be-wa'wa, the white 
goose. 



PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 



249 



Wa won ais' sa, the whippoor- 
will. 

Way way'. 

Way-miik-kwa'na, the cater- 
pillar. 

Way was 'si mo, the lightning. 

Wen'di goes, the giants. 

We no'nah, Hiawatha's mother, 
daughter of Nokomis. 

White man's foot, the common 



plantain, so called by the 
Indians because it advances 
into the wilderness with the 
white settlers. 
Wy o'ming, in northern Penn- 
sylvania, the scene of a ter- 
rible massacre in 1778. 

Yen a diz'ze, an idler and gam- 
bler ; an Indian dandy. 



INDEX TO NOTES 



Bark of willow, 228. 
Beggar's dance, 235. 
Black-Robe, 241. 
Blessing the cornfields, 237. 
Buffalo marrow, 235. 
Burial custom, 234. 

Calumet, 228. 
Cheemaun, 233. 
Chibiabos, 233. 
Corn-planting, 237. 
Curing skins, 231. 

Death-Dance, 230. 
Death of Kwasind, 240. 

Fasting, 232. 
Funeral custom, 241. 

Ghosts, 240. 
Gitche Gumee, 230. 



Gitche Manito, 228. 
Grand Sable, 227. 

Haze and vapor, 229. 
Hiawatha's prophecy, 241. 
Hiawatha's welcome, 241. 
Hunting of Pau-Fuk-Keewis, 
240. 

Indian feast, 235. 
Indian hunter, 229. 
Indian summer, 229. 
Indian tribes, 229. 
Indian year, 236. 

Jossakeed, 239. 

Kabibonokka, 230. 
Keewaydin, 231. 
Kwasind, 233. 

Lamentation, 239. 
Linden cradle, 230. 



251 



252 



INDEX TO NOTES 



Maiiabozho, 231. 
Manito, 233. 
Mats, 234. 
Meda, 239. 

Michilimackinac, 237. 
Milky Way, 230. 
Minnehaha Falls, 231. 
Mondamin, 232. 
Mountains of the prairie, 227. 

Nagow Wudjoo, 236. 
Nahma, 234. 
Nee-ba-naw-baigs, 240. 

Ojeeg, 239. 
Onaway, 236. 

Pau-Puk-Keewis, 239. 
Pemican, 234. 
Pictured Rocks, 227. 



Picture-writing, 238. 
Pugasaing, 235. 
Puk-Wudjies, 240. 

Red Pipe-stone, 228. 
Red Swan, 236. 

Sacred Lodge, 239. 
Shingebis, 230. 
Story-telling, 236. 

Totem, 239. 

Wabeno, 239. 
Wabun, 229. 
Wagemin, 238. 
Wah-wah-taysee, 230. 
Wampum, 229. 
White man's foot, 241. 



MACMILLAN'S 

POCKET SERIES OF ENGLISH 
CLASSICS 

UNIFORM IN SIZE AND BINDING 
Cloth ------ 25 Cents Each 



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" I know of no edition that can compare with yours in attractiveness 
and cheapness. So far as I have examined it the editor's work has 
been judiciously performed. But well-edited texts are easy to find: 
you have done something new in giving us a beautiful book, one ihat 
will teach pupils to love and care for books ; and, which seems to me 
quite as important, you have made an edition which does not look 
* school-booky.' " 

Oscar D. Robinson, Principal High School, Albany, N.Y. 

" The books possess all the excellencjlfcs claimed for them, — scholarly 
annotation, convenience of form, beautiful open pages, attractive bind- 
ing, and remarkably low price. I shall take pleasure in recommending 
them for use in our school." 

S. H. Bundell, Principal Girls' High School, Lancaster, Pa. 

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size, and beautiful binding of the book." 

George McK. Bain, Principal High School, Norfolk, Va. 

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well edited, clearly printed, and beautifully bound, while the price is 
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Professor Charles M. Curry, Indiana State Normal School. 

•• You have hit upon a splendid form for this series, and the price will 
certainly attract the attention of any one who has been looking for good 
material at a ♦ good ' price." 

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attractive." 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



ENGLISH CLASSICS 



Addison's Sir Roger de Coverley. Edited by Zelma Gray. 

Browning's Shorter Poems. Edited by Franklin T. Baker. 

Mrs. Browning'^ Poems (Selections from). Edited by Heloise E. 

Hershey. 
Burke's Speech on Conciliation. Edited by S. C. Newsom. 
Byron's Chiide Harold. Edited by A. J. George. 
Byron's Shorter Poems. Edited by Ralph Hartt Bowles. 
Carlyle's Essay on Burns, with Selections. Edited by Willard C 

Gore. 
Chaucer's Prologue to the Book of the Tales of Canterbury, the Knight's 

Tale, and the Nun's Priest's Tale. Edited by Andrew Ingraham, 
Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner. Edited by T. F. Huntington. 
Cooper's Last of the Mohicans. Edited by W. K. Wickes. 
Cooper's The Deerslayer. 
De Quincey 's Confessions of an English Opium Eater. Edited by Arthur 

Beatty. 
Dryden's Palamon and Arcite. Edited by Percival Chubb. 
Early American Orations, 1760-1824. Edited by Louie R. Heller. 
Epoch-making Papers in United States History. Edited by M. S. Brown, 
Franklin's Autobiography. 

George Eliot's Silas Marner. Edited by E. L. GULICK. 
Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. Edited by H. W. BOYNTON. 
Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales. Edited by R. C. Gaston. 
Irving's Alhambra. Edited by Alfred M. Hitchco>:k. 
Irving's Life of Goldsmith. Edited'by Gilbert Sykes BlakelY. 
Irving's Sketch Book. 
Jonathan Edwards* Sermons (Selections from). Edited by Professoi 

H. N. Gardiner. 
Longfellow's Evangeline. Edited by Lewis B. Semple. 
Lowell's Vision of Sir Launfal. Edited by Herbert E. BATES. 
Macaulay's Essay on Addison. Edited by C. W. French. 
Macaulay's Essay on Clive. Edited by J. W. Pearce. 
Macaulay's Essay on Johnson. Edited by William Schuyler. 
Macaulay's Essay on Milton. Edited by C. W. French. 
Macaulay's Essay on Warren Hastings. Edited by Mrs. M. J. Frick. 



ENGLISH CLASSICS 



Milton's Comus, Lycidas, and Other Poems. Edited by Andrew J. 
George. 

Milton's Paradise Lost. Books I and II. Edited by W. I. Crane. 

Palgrave's Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics. 

Plutarch's Liv3s of Caesar, Brutus, and Antony. Edited by Martha 
Brier. 

Poe's Poems. Edited by Charles W. Kent. 

Poe's Prose Tales (Selections from). 

Pope's Homer's Iliad. Edited by Albert Smyth. 

Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies, and King of the Golden River. Edited by 
Herbert E. Bates. 

Scott's Ivanhoe. Edited by Alfred M. Hitchcock. 

Scott's Lady of the Lake. Edited by Elizabeth A. Packard. 

Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel. Edited by Ralph H. Bowles. 

Scott's Marmion. Edited by George B. Aiton. 

Shakespeare's As You Like It. Edited by Charles Robert Gaston. 

Shakespeare's Hamlet. Edited by L. A. Sherman. 

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Edited by George W. Hufford and 
Lois G. Hufford. 

Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Edited by Charlotte W. Under- 
wood. 

Shakespeare's Macbeth. Edited by C. W. French, 

S'lakespeare's Twelfth Night. Edited by Edward P. Morton. 

S'lelley and Keats (Selections from). Edited by S. C. Newsom. 

Southern Poets (Selections from). Edited by W. L. Weber. 

Spenser's Faerie Queene, Book I. Edited by George Armstrong 
Wauchope. 

Stevenson's Treasure Island. Edited by H. A. Vance. 

Tennyson's The Princess. Edited by Wilson Farrand. 

Tennyson's Idylls of the King. Edited by W. T. Vlymen. 

Tennyson's Shorter Poems. Edited by Charles Read Nutter. 

John Woolman's Journal. 

Wordsworth's Shorter Poems. Edited by Edward Fulton. 

Old English Ballads. Edited by Professor William D. Armes. 

Kingsley's The Heroes. Edited by Charles A. McMurry. 



ENGLISH CLASSICS 



Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome and Otfier Poems. Edited by 

Franklin T. Baker. 
Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Edited by Clifton Johnson. 
The Arabian Nights' Entertainments. Edited by Clifton Johnson. 
Keary's Heroes of Asgard. Edited by Charles A. McMurry. 
Hawthorne's Grandfather's Chair. Edited by Charles A. McMurry. 
Longfellow's Courtship of Miles Standish. Edited by Homer P. Lewis. 
Grimm's Fairy Tales. Selected and edited by James H. Fassett. 
Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Edited by Clifton Johnson. 
Out of the Northland. Stories from the Northern Myths. By Emilie 

Kip Baker. 
Scott's The Talisman. Edited by Frederick Trendly. 
Scott's Quentin Durward. Edited by Arthur L. Eno, 
Homer's Iliad (abridged). Done into English by ANDREW LANG, Wal- 
ter Leaf, and Ernest Myers. 
Homer's Odyssey (abridged). Done into English by S. H. Butcher 

and Andrew Lang. 
Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (Illustrated.) Edited by 

Charles A. McMurry. 
Dickens's A Christmas Carol and the Cricket on the Hearth. Edited by 

James M. Sawin. 
Hawthorne's Wonder-Book. Edited by L. E. Wolfe. 
Carlyle's Heroes ,and Hero Worship. 
Church's The Story of the Iliad. 
Church's The Story of the Odyssey. 

Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables. Edited by Clyde Furst. 
Arnold's Sohrab and Rustum and other Poems. Edited by Justus 

Collins Castleman. 
Andersen's Danish Fairy Legends and Tales. (Translated.) Edited 

by Sarah C. Brooks. 
Longfellow's Hiawatha. Edited by Elizabeth J. Fleming. 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 

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